When the university meets the grassroots: participatory action research and just transitions in agriculture

Abstract Confronting the deep-rooted social inequities and environmental harm in animal agriculture research demands approaches that link Just Transitions (JT) with Participatory Action Research (PAR). We present a case study from the Midwest, USA, drawing on an ongoing participatory action research project, started in 2020, where we conducted semi-structured interviews with 128 participants and three participatory workshops with farmers, non-profit leaders, and community organizers. Adapting established PAR methods, we integrated community organizing tools such as one-on-one relational meetings and interactive workshops to better understand barriers to transition and how to foster meaningful change. These methodological interventions shifted who participated, how knowledge was produced, and whose voices shaped the terms of agricultural research and its implications for just transitions. They created deeper conversations about race, land, labor, and governance, which surfaced tensions while also creating the conditions for solidarity across difference. Grounded in this case study, we articulate a Just Transitions PAR Implementation Framework that highlights four interconnected elements: engagement and trust-building, collaboration and co-design, action and co-production of knowledge, and reflection and iteration. We argue that without intentional, justice-centered adaptations, participatory agricultural and transitions research risks reinforcing the very exclusions it aims to challenge. This paper contributes a conceptual intervention by positioning PAR as a valuable approach for advancing Just Transitions in agriculture and a practical methodological guide for researchers committed to transformative change from within and beyond the university.