How the Open Innovation Ecosystem Approach Can Support Local CSA Farm Operations

Research among Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) farmers and organizations in horticulture sectors of South Africa, Tanzania and Jordan demonstrates the need for creating CSA ecosystems. While being fully focused on managing their CSA innovations, few farmers have time to develop these CSA partnerships and networks. To guide these efforts, we identified the key aspects for CSA ecosystems to focus on in their support to CSA farmers. We argue that for reaching optimum results, the business model of the CSA farm should include a local ecosystem that provides support to its operations from private, public and academic stakeholders. It should be a farmer-focused ecosystem, aimed at providing local solutions for localized problems. Using the Open
Innovation Ecosystem Model allows us to suggest ways to facilitate the development and coordination of such an ecosystem, either by a lead CSA farmer or by other CSA stakeholders.