Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
and Bulgaria; together with the EU accession of both countries but at different times). From
the perspective of niche actors, the regime's governance structures face the challenge of
dealing with specific problems in the localities where they operate. These problems include
depopulation, growing unemployment, decreasing numbers and variety of species (e.g. fruit
trees), lack of authenticity in food products, and the de-coupling of traditional human-
nature relations. Niche actors consider regime governance structures as responsible for the
apathy and inactivity of the target population (mostly in Greece and Bulgaria) and also for
damaging human-nature relations (in the Czech Republic). The new forms of governance
emerging through niches therefore represent direct or indirect responses to regime
dysfunction. The new structures represent horizontal networks of actors, including farmers,
food producers and processors, environmentalists, consumers and tourists, in order to
engage the local population or improve human-nature relations to address the problems
they are facing in a more efficient and sustainable manner. Locality, quality, networks
(cooperation) and traditions were the words most used in discussions about local
certification schemes and organizational innovations, which were developed to counter
regime tendencies towards globalization, quantity and material growth. The schemes were
not developed as new forms of governance quickly but took 5 to 10 years after the
establishment of the initiatives to develop.
The landscape-regime-niche interactions indicate an amalgamation of vertical (typical
for modern organizations) and horizontal (late modern fluid networks) forms of
governance. For instance, the Czech case was significantly developed through the use of an
international grant (vertically channelled funding) which was used to reconstruct an old
barn for the production of local organic apple cider. The grant was the result of
international networking by environmentalists participating in the initiative. Later, the
actors in the network learned that to market the cider it had to differ from other beverages;
they therefore developed the first local label and extended the local certification scheme to
other quality small-scale products in the area. The network now utilizes the money
generated through the scheme to support other projects with similar aims.
The emergence of the forms of governance described in this chapter was influenced
and supported by the socio-technical landscape through its values and norms, particularly
CAP reforms, including LEADER approaches and the decentralization discourse. In the
Czech Republic and Bulgaria, this process was also related to the collapse of centralized
forms of national and local governance of the economy and society. Contemporary
landscape pressures were also related to social trends such as consumer preferences towards
food quality, and tracing authenticity of products or activities. Environmental concerns vis-
à-vis economic and market dominant discourses also played an important role. These
niches focus on decentralization, including endogenous approaches to rural development,
local food and services quality and high-level environmental protection, as well as the
maintenance of traditional knowledge and products.
These niches challenge the technological aspects of the regime through traditional and
local production techniques in food processing (also environmental protection and
traditional farming methods in the Czech case), off-farm and non-farm activities (tourism
and services), in contrast to the sectoral focus of farming. In the Czech case, there is also
significant orientation towards the use of green technologies, such as an efficient
community heating system using renewable resources (wood from community forests) or
fuelled by small community-owned solar energy stations, and the use of wetlands to treat
waste water. From this perspective, the niches also highlight the use of 'retro-innovative'
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