• As “co-produced” research becomes more popular, there is a need to evaluate the processes and outcomes of successful cases. • The Collaborative Adaptive Rangeland Management project is a case of a ranch-scale, 10-year grazing experiment ongoing in Colorado. We used social science to evaluate group learning. • We describe the complex, challenging aspects of the collaborative process, and how those challenges helped inspire learning as the team grappled with new problems and knowledge. • Respect, trust, and shared understanding are essential to success. • Social science can help collaborative research teams better design and implement complex co-production methods to engage stakeholders. © 2021 The Rangelands archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information.
Practical, non-technical peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol 1, 1979 up to 3 years from the current year. More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.