Keywords
Knowledge co-production
Local knowledge
Sociobiodiversity
Transformative research
Agroforestry
Abstract
This article examines the practice of co-production from the perspective of researchers involved in the LINKAGES Project (Local Knowledge for a Grounded (Bio)Economy in the Amazon). The project brings together a transdisciplinary team of researchers, practitioners, and producers, and comprises six case studies of sociobiodiversity economies (SBE) co-designed with local partners. These cases encompass diverse sustainable production systems, collective forms of producers’ organization, and more inclusive market channels. We focus on the dilemmas researchers face in the everyday practice of co-production. We describe how co-production has been carried out across different phases of the project and show how distinct pathways have emerged among the SBE case studies. Drawing on a mixed set of qualitative data—including online exchanges, in-person encounters, site visits, and collective reflections between 2022 and 2025—we analyze two contrasting SBE case studies involving producer cooperatives in the state of Pará, Brazil. Case 1 illustrates a trajectory of re-orienting and down-scaling co-production in response to shifting priorities within a farmers’ cooperative, whereas Case 2 shows incremental engagement and scaling of co-production with farmers despite significant organizational and market challenges. Our analysis highlights both external and internal structural factors that shape the co-production process. Externally, researchers navigate tensions between rigid academic structures and the personal investment, flexibility, and adaptability required for co-production. Internally, the multifaceted and changing context of local partners influences their level of engagement in co-production. As these issues are unlikely to be specific to the Amazon, we argue that making these dilemmas visible and fostering open debate is essential for reshaping academic structures and for designing more reflexive, politically aware, and structurally supported co-production strategies.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Fábio de Castro, Alice Ramos de Moraes, Gabriela Russo Lopes, Célia Regina Tomiko Futemma, Eduardo Sonnewend Brondízio