Over the last few years, an increasing number of agricultural R&D actors have sought to discover and get to know farmers’ practices that they consider as innovative, unconventional, or promising. We refer to these approaches, all of which aim to support the design of farming systems, as ‘farmer innovation tracking’. There is still a lack of knowledge, however, about the specificities of the approaches adopted to track innovations and how they contribute to design processes. To explore these questions, we studied 14 initiatives in France led by actors from different R&D networks. We analysed the data collected using agronomy and design science concepts. Three outcomes emerge from this work. (1) We shed light on the common features of innovation tracking. We outline five stages that structure all the approaches: formulating an innovation tracking project, unearthing innovations, learning about them, analysing them, and generating agronomic content. (2) We characterize six contributions of farmer innovation tracking to design processes: giving rise to creative anomalies, shedding light on systemic mechanisms to fuel design processes on other farms, uncovering research questions, stimulating design in orphan fields of innovation, circulating innovation concepts, and connecting farmer-designers with each other. (3) Finally, we highlight three tracking strategies: the targeted tracking of proven practices, the targeted tracking of innovations under development, and the exploratory tracking of proven practices. This article is the first to propose a theorization of the farmer innovation tracking approaches, thus enriching the agronomic foundations supporting farming system design. The purpose of our paper is not to provide a turnkey method, but to highlight concepts, mechanisms, and points of reference for actors who might wish to develop farmer innovation tracking in different contexts in the future. By revealing their contributions to design processes, this article seeks to contribute to the institutionalization of innovation tracking.

在过去几年中，越来越多的农业研发参与者试图发现和了解他们认为具有创新性、非常规或有前途的农民的做法。我们将这些旨在支持农业系统设计的方法称为“农民创新跟踪”。然而，对于跟踪创新所采用的方法的特殊性以及它们如何对设计过程做出贡献，仍然缺乏知识。为了探讨这些问题，我们研究了由来自不同研发网络的参与者领导的法国 14 项举措。我们分析了使用农学和设计科学概念收集的数据。这项工作产生了三个结果。(1)我们阐明了创新跟踪的共同特征。我们概述了构建所有方法的五个阶段：制定创新跟踪项目、发掘创新、了解创新、分析创新并生成农艺内容。(2) 我们描述了农民创新跟踪对设计过程的六大贡献：​​引起创造性异常，阐明推动其他农场设计过程的系统机制，揭示研究问题，激发孤儿创新领域的设计，传播创新概念，并将农民设计师相互联系起来。(3) 最后，我们强调三种跟踪策略：有针对性地跟踪已证明的实践，有针对性地跟踪正在开发的创新，以及对已证明实践的探索性跟踪。这篇文章是第一个提出农民创新跟踪方法的理论，从而丰富了支持农业系统设计的农艺基础。我们论文的目的不是提供一种交钥匙方法，而是为那些可能希望在未来不同背景下发展农民创新跟踪的参与者强调概念、机制和参考点。通过揭示他们对设计过程的贡献，本文试图为创新跟踪的制度化做出贡献。