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Abstract Agricultural researchers are increasingly encouraged to engage with stakeholders to improve the usefulness of their projects, but iterative research on the design and assessment of stakeholder engagement is scarce. The USDA Long‐Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) Network recognizes the importance of effective engagement in increasing the utility of information and technologies for future agriculture. Diverse stakeholders and researchers at the Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) LTAR site co‐designed the KBS LTAR Aspirational Cropping System Experiment, a process that provides a testing ground and interdisciplinary collaborations to develop theory‐driven assessment protocols for continuous stakeholder engagement. Informed by prior work, we designed an assessment protocol that aims to measure participant preferences, experiences, and perceived benefits at various stages of this long‐term project. Two online surveys were conducted in 2021 and 2022 among participants of LTAR engagement events at KBS, using a pre‐post design, resulting in 125 total responses. Survey respondents had positive perceptions of the collaboratively designed research experiment. They had a strong expectation that the research would generate conservation and environmental advances while also informing policy and programs. Respondents also indicated a desire to network with other stakeholders. The research team noted the significant role of a long‐term stakeholder engagement specialist in inviting participants from diverse backgrounds and creating an open and engaging experience. Overall, results highlight an interdisciplinary path of intentional and iterative engagement and evaluation to build a program that is adaptive and responsive to stakeholder needs.
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This content will become publicly available on February 1, 2026
Effective stakeholder engagement for decision-relevant research on food-energy-water systems
Given the integrated nature of food-energy-water systems (FEWS), stakeholder engagement is central to developing solution-oriented projects. However, effective engagement requires substantial time and resources, by both the organization conducting the project and the stakeholders themselves, making effective engagement challenging for many projects. To help teams prioritize, prepare, and sustain stakeholder-engaged environmental projects, we propose a methodological foundation for effective engagement based on six gears: diversity, listening, value, trust, accountability, and flexibility/adaptability. The application of these gears is demonstrated using a set of case studies in Arizona, Idaho, Mexico, and Guatemala. In practice, incorporating all the gears during stakeholder engagement can be challenging. This framework can help teams implement and foster more sustained, comprehensive, robust, actionable, equitable, inclusive, and timely engagement, processes, and outcomes.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1856059
- PAR ID:
- 10600329
- Publisher / Repository:
- Elsevier
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Science & Policy
- Volume:
- 164
- Issue:
- C
- ISSN:
- 1462-9011
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 103988
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- Accountability diversity flexibility theory trust
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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