Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 12
Transdisciplinarity in deriving sustainability
pathways for agriculture
T. Pinto-Correia 1 , A. McKee 2 , H. Guimarães 1
1 University of Évora (mptc@uevora.pt); 2 James Hutton Institute, Aberdeen
Introduction
The aim of the FarmPath project has been to identify mechanisms that promote transition
processes in the farming sector, and that support the adaptative and reflexive capacity of
those involved at multiple scales. Transitions to sustainability refer to radical
transformations towards a more sustainable society as a response to a number of persistent
overarching problems (Grin et al. , 2010). For transition to occur, as has been shown in
Schiller et al. and Darrot et al. (both this volume), different types of stakeholders at the
niche level, and others at the sub-regime and regime level need to be engaged, take part in
the change process and interact.
In this topic we have argued that major transformational changes involve contestation
of dominant paradigms and re-balancing of the main drivers affecting the agricultural
sector. In order to find new pathways, Marsden (2013) argues that a more reflexive
governance approach at multiple scales is required (see also Marsden et al. , 2010). In
reflexive governance, both the adaptive and the reflexive capacity of the actors involved are
strengthened by social learning, defined by Darnhofer et al. (2012) as the systematic
learning process amongst multiple actors who, together, define a purpose related to the
agreed need for concerted action at a variety of scales. Through social learning, farmers and
other stakeholders become experts, instead of users or adopters of scientific
recommendations (Röling and Wagemakers, 1998). Recent trends in transition management
have evolved further in co-design, where knowledge is developed in a complex, interactive
design process with a range of stakeholders involved through a process of social learning
(Grin et al. , 2010).
Following the study of different case studies, FarmPath applied a participatory,
transdisciplinary approach to identify visions for the future of agriculture and land related
activities, as well as the pathways to achieve those visions. This second phase of the
research was further developed in seven of the regions where the niches studied are based
(with one region per study country). The aim was to involve, in each region, stakeholders
and researchers in the co-construction of visions and pathways as a way to grasp the
potentialities and constraints faced by agriculture regionally, and to identify mechanisms, at
different levels of governance, that can support a transition towards sustainability. As
 
 
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