Ex-Post Evaluation of the Impacts of the Science-Based Research and Innovation Program: A New Method Applied in the Case of Farmers’ Transition to Organic Production in the Camargue

Summary

This paper aims to assess the contribution, role, and impacts of the Science-Based Research and Innovation Program (ISRIP) on farmers’ transition to organic production in the Camargue. Focusing on how, and to what extent, research actors have contributed to the innovation pathway, we applied a methods-mix. The Participatory Impact Pathway Analysis (PIPA) was used to uncover complex mechanisms along the innovation process; the Outcome Harvesting method to adapt PIPA to the requirements of an ex-post evaluation, and the Social Network Analysis (SNA) to emphasize actors’ relationships in relation to the development process. We demonstrate that the research has contributed to change by developing co-learning interactions with farmers, although this was not critical to the success of the innovation. Rather, we highlight that agricultural policies, economic factors, testing conducted independently by farmers, and the institutional framework, are the most important and influential factors.