The article discusses the need for significant changes in cropping systems (CS) to facilitate an agroecological transition. Achieving this requires innovative design tailored to local conditions, which is challenging due to the need for extensive, often under-researched knowledge distributed among various stakeholders. Research since the 2000s has focused on participatory methods to support on-farm design of new systems, but there has been limited attention on developing design-support tools. To define the characteristics of tools that can assist in designing agroecology-oriented cropping systems, ergonomists suggest analyzing the activities of potential users in real work situations.

The study conducted six design workshops with different goals and participants, including farmers, advisors, students, and scientists. The researchers identified the diverse features of these design situations and analyzed three key processes: the reformulation of design goals, extensive exploration of potential solutions, and local adaptation of these solutions while anticipating their implementation in the field.

The study reveals the types of reasoning and knowledge used by designers and facilitators during the design process of agroecological cropping systems. The findings suggest that future design-support tools should encourage various types of design reasoning and facilitate the creation of external representations of the object being designed. The results offer practical guidelines for developing new tools to support the co-design of agroecological cropping systems.