Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and regional levels. Together, actors (local and regional, public and private) built a
programme for local development based on landscape management, re-emphasized the
value of local farm products and created an agri-environmental measure to support
landscape management.
In the Portuguese initiative a collective efficiency strategy, itself a multi-level
collaboration process, developed a public-private partnership and networks across the
Alentejo region. Similarly, it benefited from collaboration between local and regional actors
who came together to progressively develop a local strategy and vision for the region.
However, from the beginning this initiative was implemented as a horizontal policy tool.
The initiative materialized through the elaboration of a strategic vision for development,
implemented through integrated development plans which included an action programme
and the establishment of partnerships. ADPM used the opportunity to develop the collective
efficiency strategy in a participatory process that involved different public and private
promoters (including farmers and also municipalities and private enterprises). ADPM,
which is more pro-active than the farmers, was the key initiator and remains the main
coordinator. Nonetheless, farmers' engagement has increased and some farmers also belong
to ADPM - thus they are both beneficiaries and participants in a process of empowerment.
In the Bulgarian case, the initiative was led by a national environmental NGO (BSPB).
The group promotes collaboration between farmers through training, encouraging farmers'
awareness of the value of practising HNVF. Collaboration is recognized as very important,
but in practice it has negative connotations with the past when cooperation was subject to,
and controlled by, the state. Farmers in the region maintain good contact and exchange
ideas, information and experience with each other, mediated by the BSPB. There are
informal networks of HNV farmers in the region but they also retain contact and exchange
visits with farmers from other regions of the country, facilitated by the BSPB. Good
relations and collaboration were also established between HNV farmers and representatives
of the Regional Office of the Agriculture Advisory Service (ROAAS).
In all three case studies, networking processes facilitated anchoring between niche and
regime actors and other domains. Networking also generated collaboration between actors
and created social links leading to the development of social capital. In the Bulgarian case,
for example, despite negative connotations, informal networks have developed between
farmers throughout the region and beyond. In the French case, an association has been
created to implement an action plan for the management of collective equipment, training
sessions, and creation of a farm shop to promote local products. In the Portuguese case, the
collaboration process was strengthened from the start by a participatory process developed
to produce an efficiency strategy. In all three cases, the transition to HNVF involved the
establishment of a social component to implement collaborative projects, the impact of
which, in terms of social links and economic opportunities for local actors, potentially
outweighs the original environmental objectives.
The success of innovating and adapting agricultural practices to natural conditions
depends on the involvement of actors and stakeholders from local and regional levels being
embedded in formal and informal organizations, and/or other bodies and networks. It is
important, therefore, to highlight the differences across the case studies in the processes of
collaboration. In the French and Portuguese case studies there was greater cooperation
amongst farmers, which was supported by several state or regional bodies/institutions.
Bulgarian farmers were less collaborative and less open to dialogue over management
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