More than just a factor in transition processes? The role of collaboration in agriculture - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 95

Montado; the formalization of collaborative processes between farmers and novel technical
solutions to facilitate resource-sharing in the case of machinery rings; and the direct
financial involvement of shareholders in regional organic farms and businesses for the
generation of economic, environmental and social returns in the case of Regionalwert AG.
The way the forms and roles of collaboration vary with different stages of (potential)
transitions was also discussed, as well as the contribution that these initiatives have made to
the regional sustainability of agriculture.
However, in all three cases it is not only these novel forms of collaboration, but also
other more conventional interactions and collaborations between actors, which play a
significant role in the development of the initiatives and in their contribution to
sustainability. Thus, initiatives can only successfully develop if the novel forms of
collaboration (e.g. actor networks or objectives pursued) are combined with well-
established forms of collaboration (e.g. management structures).
Moreover, regarding the effects of collaboration varying at different stages of the
transition process, in CRIE Montado, collaboration seems to have increased relational
connectedness and trust, and created the space to initiate and advance innovations during
niche establishment, whereas interpersonal relationships have been substituted, to some
extent, in the case of machinery rings by institutional facilitation. Thus, collaboration
provides a medium in which the transition process is continuously shaped and advanced by
actors, in interaction with pressures and opportunities from the landscape - a medium
which is the key for innovations and for their development and mainstreaming. This
highlights the importance of investing in social capital and supporting collaboration.
Nevertheless, in all three cases there is a lack of support given to collaborative structures
and processes by public policies.
This study has shown that different types of collaboration may have potential value at
different stages of transitions; the role of collaboration varying according to the stage of
transition reached. The returns obtained from supporting collaboration are, therefore,
uncertain but risk is inevitable in developing innovative solutions, and such support will
have a multiplying effect on the efforts of actors involved in transition processes.
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