Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
thanks to the involvement of the full range of food chain actors. In Santorini, farmers
involved in the niche earned twice the price for their grapes, were involved in a more
reliable chain, as well as involved in a renewed image of the quality of their product (even
though the landscape and quality issues remain factors of disagreement).
These trajectories of niches based on AAFNs fits with what Smith and Raven (2012)
defined as 'stretch and transform empowerment' (processes that restructure mainstream
selection environments in ways favourable to the niche). According to the authors, this
progressive empowerment process, which occurs in multi-dimensional 'protected spaces',
allows for the next steps of the transition, characterized by the emergence of an
'innovation-specific proto-regime' operating on two levels; local and global with local
experience of socio-technical networks being converted by global networks into more
generic, mobile processes and norms (Smith and Raven, 2012).
At that stage, AAFN-based innovation processes seem to have stopped following this
general scheme of transition processes. The first lesson learned from our three case studies
is that if empowerment in protected spaces can be observed at the local level, niche
anchoring at the local level of the regime allows AAFNs to better dissociate from the
anonymous macro-level sub-regime. The niche aims to achieve its autonomy from the
regime, not align with it. In other words, the niche does not aim to change the rules of the
regime, but rather not to depend on them anymore. The solutions used to reach this aim
rely on the constitution of independent and self-sufficient AAFNs, meeting local demand
whilst ensuring reasonable income to the actors (production, processing and marketing)
involved in the niche.
The examples of Rennes and Santorini inspire a broader observation: when directing
energy towards its development and when coping with its success, the niche needs to
obtain the commitment of all actors involved in the food chain, in other words, actors
representing all of the sub-regimes in the food regime. If one of the categories of actors
(one of the sub-regimes) is missing, the linking process of the niche appears blocked. The
transition in Pilsen is too recent to allow for such an observation, and its future trajectory
will be interesting to follow for this reason alone. The commitment of all sub-regimes
seems to be a necessary condition for successful anchoring of the niche to the local-level
of the regime.
The second lesson learned from our three case studies is that the growing size of the
niche provides the means to overcome resistance: the more developed the niche becomes,
the more it is able to generate and organize solutions. We have shown that these solutions
can be based on the semi-forced participation of resisting actors, on a spontaneous
movement of those actors who initially resisted (for example when actors become more
conscious of the benefits that involvement in the niche can provide), or on the creation of
new actors who fill the gap left by the absence of resistant actors.
The third lesson learned is that actors who join the niche from resisting sub-regimes
appear satisfied because they benefit from the niche's autonomy from the regime. In
return, thanks to the involvement of representatives of all sub-regimes, the niche reaches a
more systematic structure and dynamic and thus reinforces the means of that autonomy.
Both newly enrolled actors and those enrolling them, gain from this common dynamic.
Indeed, the rules within the niche are permanently re-negotiated to ensure its key values,
such as negotiated prices, retention of added value within the food chain and good
working conditions. The development of a strategy of autonomy and the improvement of
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