Living Laboratories Initiative: Understanding social and economic factors

In each living lab, a team of experts provides information to help farmers understand the costs and benefits of implementing the innovations being developed. Researchers will also study the social factors that influence the adoption of innovations, as well as their social impacts on the farmers and their communities.

Socio-economists from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and its collaborators work closely with farmers to:

  • Determine whether the new practices or technologies will be profitable
  • Understand the full range of benefits and costs of new practices or technologies, including long-term public benefits
  • Identify the social and economic factors that make adoption of new practices or technologies more or less likely
  • Measure the economic aspects of environmental issues
  • Determine how best to evaluate the effectiveness of the living lab from a social perspective

This information about the public and economic factors will help other farmers when deciding to adopt the new practices or technologies developed in the living lab.

Local economics collaborators

  • International Institute for Sustainable Development
  • Manitoba Agriculture and Resource Development
  • Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Land
  • Research and Development Institute for the Agri-Environment
  • St. Francis Xavier University
  • University of New Brunswick

Through a Knowledge Synthesis Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is collaborating with the following organizations to study the social impacts and effectiveness of living labs: