Social farming as complex transdisciplinary arena

Social farming is an innovative concept working in a grey zone among agriculture, social, education and health sectors and competencies. It involves many diverse private and public actors asked to share and to create new collective knowledge in an innovative process. The organisation of social farming initiatives is also at the crossroads of many policies and tools that need to be reframed in order to facilitate evolutive pathways of practices and initiatives. Research in social farming implies an active role of researchers along medium term initiatives, involving a large number of stakeholders. The need for an alternative research paradigm, focusing on a transdisciplinary approach, has been identified. This recognized need led to the use of a participatory transdisciplinary approach in a research aimed at the creation of an evaluation model of social farming practices. This paper describes the nature of collaborative relationships among researchers and others stakeholders and the link between transdisciplinary research and co-production of knowledge. In addition, it examines both the inhibiting and facilitating factors that are a part of this collaborative process.