Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
the high number of farmer-owned developments). For wind energy, developments
addressing noise reduction and cooling systems are undertaken by manufacturers.
Implications of transition towards renewable energy production
Utility of the multi-level perspective
In our introduction, we suggested that on-farm renewable energy production represents a
'classic' socio-technical transition in that the transition process has followed many of the
tenets set out in the MLP. In our case studies, there is a clear progression from niche to
anchoring, through processes which redefined the initial purpose of the technology and
adapted it to meet an emerging landscape-level need. Where the transition process differs
from the MLP as presented in Chapter 2 (Darnhofer, this volume), is that the process does
not appear to have resulted primarily from niche actors pursuing a change in the
agricultural regime. Indeed, it appears that landscape factors led energy regime actors to
pursue renewable technologies and that the agricultural regime was impacted upon because
of the resources which were historically within its purview: land but also agricultural
products and waste.
There is a clear process of alignment between the energy and agricultural regime s in
terms of functions (i.e. energy production) and in terms of the socio-technical system
(renewable energy produced by farmers shares the same grid access, planning procedures
etc. as that produced by other businesses). However, where this appears to reflect an
emergent regime change (based around technological substitution) within the energy sector,
the transition within the agricultural sector is relatively minor (but may lead to a
transformation pathway). As a result, commodity production remains the primary function
of the agricultural regime and energy production is instead viewed as farm diversification.
Renewable energy production is thus a case of multi-regime interaction. In their
conceptualization of multi-regime interaction, Raven and Verbong (2007) propose multiple
types of multi-regime interaction: competition, symbiosis, integration and spillover. In this
present research, the energy and agricultural regimes compete for use of agricultural land,
both functionally (food vs fuel) and in terms of control (farmer vs corporations). The
reliance of biogas technologies on both land and agricultural products has enabled the
agricultural sector to retain a stronger foothold than has been the case with wind turbines
but there is a spillover effect. The multiple functions of the agricultural sector suggest that
it may represent a special case in relation to the MLP, where regimes are defined in terms
of a single function (this will be discussed further in relation to all cases in Darnhofer
et al.
and Sutherland
et al
., both this volume).
The analysis of the three cases also demonstrates the different ways that MLP concepts
were enacted. Germany was the first of the three countries to recognize the economic
development opportunity represented by renewable energy production, and so was already
actively establishing targets - and pursuing foreign developments - before the UK and
Czech Republic. The 'window of opportunity' represented by the EU directives, thus, may
not have been identified as such if Germany were analysed on its own. The discussion
above has also emphasized that change occurs differently at regional level, where
pioneering is occurring while anchoring is underway nationally, while niche innovations
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