scholarly journals The Multi-Level Perspective in Research on Sustainability Transitions in Agriculture and Food Systems: A Systematic Review

Agriculture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid El Bilali
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Conventional Agriculture ◽  
International Trends ◽  
Multi Level

The multi-level perspective (MLP) is a prominent transition framework. The MLP posits that transitions come about through interaction processes within and among three analytical levels: niches, socio-technical regimes and a socio-technical landscape. This systematic review provides an overview on the use of the MLP in research on agro-food sustainability transitions. In particular, it analyses the understanding, conceptualisation and operationalisation of niches, regimes and landscapes. Niches considered in the selected papers include agro-ecology, organic agriculture, permaculture, conservation agriculture, integrated farming, and alternative food networks. Regime refers to industrial, conventional agriculture. The researched regime is often not clearly described and its operationalisation is a matter of deliberation. Landscape level is generally overlooked; when it is considered it refers to international trends and developments. Many scholars highlight the inadequacy of transition pathways in the MLP for the agro-food sector. Moreover, transition impacts are rarely addressed and the research field generally overlooks the analysis of the sustainability of niches and, consequently, of transitions. Research on transitions in the agro-food sector borrows from the MLP its generalizability and poor empirical operationalisation of niche, regime and landscape concepts. Therefore, integrative conceptualisation and operationalisation of the MLP elements is required to accommodate the complexity of sustainability transition processes and the peculiarities of the agro-food system.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing Processes of Agroecological Transformations: From Scaling to Transition to Transformation

2020 ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Colin Ray Anderson ◽  
Janneke Bruil ◽  
M. Jahi Chappell ◽  
Csilla Kiss ◽  
Michel Patrick Pimbert
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Technical Analysis ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Food Regime ◽  
Farm Level ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Systems Transformation ◽  
Analytical Frameworks

AbstractIn this chapter, we survey the recent literature that speaks directly to the issue of bringing agroecology to scale. We discuss the shift towards analytical frameworks that consider not only the farm level but rather whole food system transformations. We then introduce the multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions which we adopt for the purpose of this book. Moving beyond the technical analysis often found in research on sustainability ‘transitions’, our approach thus adopts agency-centric approach to food systems ‘transformation’. To do this, we introduce the notion of domains of transformation, which represent discrete areas where the conflict between agroecology and the dominant food regime manifests and where the potential for collective and transformation is transformation is most potent.

scholarly journals Alternative Agri-Food Systems Under a Market Agencements Approach: The Case of Multifunctional Farming Activity in a Peri-Urban Area

Environments ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 61
Author(s):  
Maria Cecilia Mancini ◽  
Filippo Arfini ◽  
Federico Antonioli ◽  
Marianna Guareschi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Area ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Alternative Food Systems ◽  
Design And Implementation ◽  
Trade Offs

(1) Background: A large body of literature is available on the environmental, social, and economic sustainability of alternative food systems, but not much of it is devoted to the dynamics underlying their design and implementation, more specifically the processes that make an alternative food system successful or not in terms of its sustainability aims. This gap seems to be particularly critical in studies concerning alternative food systems in urban and peri-urban agriculture (UPA). This paper explores how the design and implementation of multifunctional farming activity in a peri-urban area surrounding the city of Reggio Emilia in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy impact the achievement of its sustainability aims. (2) Methods: The environmental, social, and economic components of this project are explored in light of the sociology of market agencements. This method brings up the motivations of the human entities involved in the project, the role played by nonhuman entities, and the technical devices used for the fulfillment of the project’s aims. (3) Results: The alternative food system under study lacked a robust design phase and a shared definition of the project aims among all the stakeholders involved. This ended in a substantial mismatch between project aims and consumer expectations. (4) Conclusions: When a comprehensive design stage is neglected, the threefold aim concerning sustainability might not be achievable. In particular, the design of alternative food systems must take into account the social environment where it is intended to be put in place, especially in UPA, where consumers often live in suburban neighborhoods wherein the sense of community is not strong, thus preventing them from getting involved in a community-based project. In such cases, hybridization can play a role in the sustainability of alternative food networks, provided that some trade-offs occur among the different components of sustainability—some components of sustainability will be fully achieved, while others will not.

scholarly journals For food space: theorizing alternative food networks beyond alterity

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Renata Blumberg ◽  
Helga Leitner ◽  
Kirsten Valentine Cadieux
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Ecology ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Agrarian Change ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Food Networks

<p>In response to calls by scholars to deepen theoretical engagement in research on Alternative Food Networks (AFNs), in this article we critically discuss and assess major theoretical approaches deployed in the study of AFNs. After highlighting the strengths and limitations of each theoretical approach, we provide an alternative framework – which we refer to as the Geographical Political Ecology of Food Systems – that integrates the contributions that have emerged in the study of the alternative geographies of food with an understanding of capitalist processes in the food system. We do this by bringing together literature on the political ecology of food systems and multiple spatialities, including Doreen Massey's understanding of space as a heterogeneous multiplicity and Eric Sheppard's conceptualization of sociospatial positionality. We utilize research on agrarian change and AFNs in Eastern Europe to elaborate this approach. We argue that this new perspective helps navigate tensions in AFN scholarship, and provides new avenues for research and action. We focus particularly on the ability of AFNs to provide a sustainable livelihood for participating farmers, thus far a neglected topic in AFN research in Europe.</p><p><strong>Keywords: </strong>Alternative Food Networks, Eastern Europe, spatialities, positionality, livelihoods</p>

scholarly journals How a Strategic Scoping Canvas Can Facilitate Collaboration between Partners in Sustainability Transitions

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seerp Wigboldus ◽  
Jan Brouwers ◽  
Herman Snel
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Strategic Orientation ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Short Contribution ◽  
Initial Application ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Common Planning ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Theories Of Change

The commonly used words &lsquo;transformation&rsquo; and &lsquo;transition&rsquo; tend to lose their edge when used for any significant change process as is rather often the case. Partners and wider stakeholders in initiatives related to &lsquo;sustainability transitions&rsquo; therefore often entertain different perspectives on what the strategic orientation of an initiative is or is meant to be. Common planning and design processes such as situation analysis and theories of change, however, often do not sufficiently cater to this dynamic. As a result, different actors may be pulling the initiative in different directions, undermining the overall partnership efforts. In this short contribution a strategic scoping canvas and an associated facilitation process are presented as a way of addressing such situations. Illustrations are provided of initial application in three cases related to food system transitions in Peru, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, exploring the connectivity with approaches commonly used in the context of system transformations, including the Multi-Level Perspective on sustainability transitions, the Leverage Points approach, Capability Approach, and the theory of Large System Change. We conclude that the canvas and associated facilitation approach has proved useful in different contexts, offering opportunities for complementing existing methodologies, and potentially enhancing their efficacy in facilitated multi-stakeholder processes.

scholarly journals Transitioning to the safe and just space inside ‘the doughnut’ by means of agroecological niche food systems: insights from Chile and Uruguay

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-311
Author(s):  
Walter A.H. Rossing ◽  
Annemarie Groot Kormelinck ◽  
Florencia Alliaume ◽  
Santiago Dogliotti ◽  
Jessica Duncan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Farm Families ◽  
Promising Alternative ◽  
Vegetable Food ◽  
Farm Scale ◽  
Scientific Project ◽  
Treasure Chest

To operate within the safe and just operating space captured by the doughnut metaphor, sustainability transitions are needed in the food system. Niche food systems with highly distinct practices and organization constitute a treasure chest of alternatives from which society can build new futures. Policy has little awareness of niche food systems and their potential contributions to sustainability transitions. Importantly, this limits society’s ability to adapt. Here, we review findings from an ongoing scientific project into different components of the vegetable food systems in Chile and Uruguay. The aim of the project is to investigate options for transitioning to low- or no-pesticide vegetable food systems. The results show: 1. the presence of promising alternative vegetable food systems in Chile, which are, however, highly marginalized and disempowered; 2. a diversity of vertical and horizontal producer arrangements in Uruguay and the need for value-driven as well as market-driven engagement; and 3. major possibilities for improving production systems to arrive within the doughnut by taking a systems perspective at the farm scale that includes the farm families and their networks. Consequences of these findings for alternative vegetable food systems are discussed.

scholarly journals The Compounded Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic and Desert Locust Outbreak on Food Security and Food Supply Chain

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1063
Author(s):  
Zhitao Xu ◽  
Adel Elomri ◽  
Abdelfatteh El Omri ◽  
Laoucine Kerbache ◽  
Hui Liu
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food Sector ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
The Face ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Global Food

The COVID-19 pandemic and locust swarm outbreaks pose a significant threat to global food systems, causing severe disruptions in both local and international food supplies from farm to fork. The main objective of this study is to understand and identify the disruptions during the crises and create a map of how resilience can be established to recover and sustain the food supply chain (FSC) functions as well as food security. The detrimental impacts of the compound crises on the FSC are explored and the effects of the affected areas are estimated under optimistic and pessimistic scenarios. As a response to the disruption caused by the crisis in FSCs, reactive and proactive solutions are proposed to develop resilience at the food sector level. In the short term, the reactive solutions, consisting of smoothing the food demand, supply and delivery, and food production and processing, can be borrowed. In the long term, the proactive solutions can be conducted by developing multi-level short intertwined FSCs. Our comprehensive investigation of the resilience elements in diverse operations and potential strategies should contribute to the improvement of FSC resilience in the face of ongoing and growing threats.

scholarly journals How a Strategic Scoping Canvas Can Facilitate Collaboration between Partners in Sustainability Transitions

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seerp Wigboldus ◽  
Jan Brouwers ◽  
Herman Snel
Keyword(s):  
Capability Approach ◽  
Food System ◽  
System Change ◽  
Large System ◽  
Shared Understanding ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Leverage Points ◽  
Initial Application ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

The loosely applied concepts of transformations and transitions often result in unarticulated different visions and expectations among stakeholders regarding the orientation and ambition of a particular initiative related to system transitions/transformations. In this paper, a strategic scoping canvas and an associated facilitation process are presented as a way of enhancing shared understanding among stakeholders. Illustrations are provided of initial application in three cases related to food system transitions in Peru, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, exploring the connectivity with approaches commonly used in the context of system transformations, including the Multi-Level Perspective on sustainability transitions, the Leverage Points approach, Capability Approach, and the theory of Large System Change. We conclude that the canvas and associated facilitation approach has proved useful in different contexts, offering opportunities for complementing existing methodologies, and potentially enhancing their efficacy in facilitated multi-stakeholder processes.

scholarly journals Understanding Ethics in Sustainability Transitions: Towards Social Learning for Sustainable Food Systems

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Social Learning ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Ethical Decision ◽  
Food System ◽  
Ethical Decision Making ◽  
Sustainability Transitions ◽  
Sustainable Food Systems ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Ethical Complexity

This thesis explores the importance of an appropriate understanding of ethics in sustainability transitions. Through a conceptual analysis, it finds that the dominant understanding of modernist ethics is unsuitable to the contexts of contingency in sustainability transitions, and that the participatory understanding of ethics as a complex system presents a far more adequate approach to the ethical complexity of socioecological systems. In particular, the strategy of „practising provisionality‟ is suggested, which understands the process of ethical decision-making as a process of social learning. This argument is further supported by a critical reflection on the food system context.

scholarly journals Reducing the Risk of Co-Optation in Alternative Food Networks: Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives, Social Capital, and Third Spaces of Cooperation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (20) ◽  
pp. 11219
Author(s):  
Raquel Ajates
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Agricultural Cooperatives ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Cooperative Movement ◽  
Third Spaces ◽  
Multi Stakeholder

Farming cooperatives are organisations fundamentally based on social capital. However, the neoliberal and globalisation turn in the food system have led to the economisation of agricultural cooperatives as their main objective and criteria for evaluating their performance, and to a retreat from their participation in the wider cooperative movement. Nevertheless, new models of cooperation may provide a method to divert from this neoliberalisation trend by promoting social capital and mutual learning amongst different actors committed to a transition to sustainable food systems. This paper applies the anthropological concept of third spaces to examine the case of multistakeholder cooperatives. This type of food and farming cooperatives are composed of a diverse membership groups (e.g., producers, consumers, coordinators, buyers, etc). A nuanced analysis of these cooperatives’ capacity to generate social capital, and more specifically to blur the boundaries between bonding, bridging, and linking social capital, is presented. Evidence from five case studies suggests that multistakeholder cooperatives that remain at the border of their game, operating in both real and symbolic third spaces, are more likely to be based on and reproduce different types of social capital as well as social and environmental sustainability, while in turn reducing the risk of co-optation of their transformative practices.

scholarly journals Notes on the practice of food justice in the U.S.: understanding and confronting trauma and inequity

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Slocum ◽  
Kirsten Valentine Cadieux
Keyword(s):  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Food Justice ◽  
Alternative Food ◽  
Alternative Food Networks ◽  
Food Networks ◽  
Food Movement ◽  
The U.S

The lexicon of the U.S. food movement has expanded to include the term 'food justice.' Emerging after approximately two decades of food advocacy, this term frames structural critiques of agri-food systems and calls for radical change. Over those twenty years, practitioners and scholars have argued that the food movement was in danger of creating an 'alternative' food system for the white middle class. Alternative food networks drew on white imaginaries of an idyllic communal past, promoted consumer-oriented, market-driven change, and left yawning silences in the areas of gendered work, migrant labor, and racial inequality. Justice was often beside the point. Now, among practitioners and scholars we see an enthusiastic surge in the use of the term food justice but a vagueness on the particulars. In scholarship and practice, that vagueness manifests in overly general statements about ending oppression, or morphs into outright conflation of the dominant food movement's work with food justice (see What does it mean to do food justice? Cadieux and Slocum (2015), in this Issue). In this article, we focus on one of the four nodes (trauma/inequity, exchange, land and labor) around which food justice organizing appears to occur: acknowledging and confronting historical, collective trauma and persistent race, gender, and class inequality. We apply what we have learned from our research in U.S. and Canadian agri-food systems to suggest working methods that might guide practitioners as they work toward food justice, and scholars as they seek to study it. In the interests of ensuring accountability to socially just research and action, we suggest that scholars and practitioners need to be more clear on what it means to practice food justice. Towards such clarity and accountability, we urge scholars and practitioners to collaboratively document how groups move toward food justice, what thwarts and what enables them.Key words: food justice, trauma, food movement, alternative food networks, antiracism

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