Conceptual insights derived from case studies on ‘emerging transitions’ in farming - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 201

insights that other analytical perspectives do not reveal. This perspective can bring new
knowledge that can support the design and targeting of public policies when they seek to
engender transformative change. However, the work of the FarmPath project has
highlighted several challenges when applying the MLP in an agricultural setting. This is
primarily due to the defining characteristics of the agricultural sector: the diversity of
practices, even within a region; the spatial nature of opportunities; the multifunctional role
of farms; the public nature of the 'goods' produced; and the high level of policy
involvement. In this context, the emergence of niches and the dynamics of niche-regime
interactions are likely to be different compared to other sectors, making the study of
emerging transitions even more challenging. To address this challenge, the analytical focus
on the anchoring process has been productive, highlighting that niche-regime(s)
interactions are relevant, as well as the interactions between regimes.
The context-dependency of many processes of change in agriculture has also made
clear that it is highly unlikely that an innovation (e.g. a technology, a production method or
the organization of a value chain) can be 'up-scaled', in that it cannot serve as a blueprint in
another context, even if it may serve as inspiration for similar processes elsewhere. Nor can
we expect an innovation to spread uniformly within a region. A transition to sustainability
in agriculture is thus unlikely to be a homogeneous process, with clearly defined
characteristics that can be captured through statistical trends. It is more likely to be a
diffuse, fuzzy intermingling of diverse, co-evolving niches and trends, out of which radical
change emerges.
The diversity within farming, and the fact that farms are at the crossroads of several
regimes, also make it likely that within a region there will be a multiplicity of niches,
initiatives and projects. None of these may be large enough to muster the transformative
energy needed to single-handedly engender a transition. However, this does not justify
discarding these 'small' niches, as they may network with others, creating synergies that,
together, fundamentally alter the dynamics within a region.
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