Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
aspects related to agricultural management and sustainability. Machinery rings and
Regionalwert AG have both institutionalized learning at different scales. Machinery rings
has acted as a knowledge provider through advisory services and consultancies.
Regionalwert AG has established an entrepreneurs' forum for knowledge exchange among
partner businesses and the Regionalwert AG Trust. The Trust's objective is to provide
knowledge and support to other regions aiming to set up similar initiatives.
The second group of factors concerns the objectives set by initiatives, and how these
are pursued. Innovative forms of collaboration have been successful, particularly if they are
a response to the day-to-day needs of members; often, stakeholders engage in collective
action to reduce their feelings of isolation. These individuals, therefore, feel that they have
gained something from collective action, even if these benefits are different to those
originally envisaged by the initiative. Examples of this include the new links established
between shareholders and organic business owners in the case of Regionalwert AG, or a
direct economic benefit to actors as can be seen in the machinery rings case, where
formalization of cooperation between farmers in resources and labour sharing is the novel
aspect. However, it is not only utilitarian interests that are drivers in establishing new forms
of collaboration. In CRIE Montado and Regionalwert AG, the explicit interests in
environmental (and social) aspects of the collaboration have contributed to the development
of the initiatives.
The third aspect concerns the means used to facilitate collaboration. The case studies
show that these can evolve over time and do not necessarily have to be introduced at the
outset to contribute to the successful establishment of initiatives. They are also the result of
the aforementioned learning processes. Technical innovations such as computer software or
direct debit technology, and service orientation (such as convenient opening hours and ease
of payments) introduced by the machinery rings have clearly increased the attractiveness of
machinery rings for farmers. Opposed to that is the lack of logistical infrastructure, which
has been identified as a limiting factor in the physical and material collab oration between
farmers and other agricultural actors in the Regionalwert AG.
It should also be noted that in all three cases, policies, particularly those aimed at
fostering collaboration such as measure 124 (EAFDR 2007), have not played a significant
role either in initiation or in the establishment of the initiatives. On the contrary, the lack of
policies or political action in particular areas which are perceived as problematic for the
sustainability of agriculture has been seen as the main driver for the establishment of a
niche. In relation to CRIE Montado, the lack of policies focusing on integrated/
multifunctional approaches, and in the Regionalwert AG case, farm succession and
increasing external capital in farms, were the core drivers for the formation of the
initiatives.
Impacts of collaboration on regional sustainability of agriculture
As CRIE Montado and Regionalwert AG are relatively recent examples of collaboration, it
is only possible to estimate the potential impact that they will have on regional
sustainability. Only one of the three initiatives - the Regionalwert AG - is overtly pursuing
greater regional sustainability in agriculture. However, the two other cases were important
to study as they, at least partly, pursue objectives that meet criteria for regional
sustainability.
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