Conclusions - Transition Pathways towards Sustainability in Agriculture: Case Studies from Europe - page 211

development (see also Sutherland and Holstead, 2014). Although the need for 'joined up'
cross-sectoral policies is well known, the case studies clearly demonstrate that this is far
from being achieved.
Owing to the emphasis within the MLP on physical technology-based transition
processes, which can be supported by traditional state research and development
investments, the means of supporting the sorts of softer transition processes characteristic
of sustainability initiatives in the agricultural sector are less developed. The research
reported in this topic represents an important step in that direction. Lošťák et al. (this
volume) describe 'regime graffiting', where some elements of the governance structures
from tourist and other regimes were transferred onto an 'agricultural' niche, ultimately
leading to changes in agri-food sector governance (for example, governance mechanisms
from the tourism sector were adopted in the agricultural sector, evidenced by the
establishment of Czech national bodies aimed at coordinating regional labelling schemes
under one umbrella). Cross-sectoral engagement at niche level can lead to institutional
anchoring that alters the policy support structures of the agricultural regime.
National and regional governments also initiate niche establishment. For example,
two of the three HNVF 'niches' were initiated by regional governments with funding from
national government agencies, whereas the third was initiated by local farmers working
with environmentalists. The two different sources pose different challenges for niche
development. In conceptual terms, niches which were created 'top-down' were, at the
time of their creation, already institutionally anchored in the form of state support. Those
niches created by 'bottom-up' processes struggled to achieve access to funding support,
often had to reformulate their purposes and legal status in order to secure these, and as a
result, they jeopardized the stability of their original orientation. In contrast, niches
developed from the top down retained their clear focus but struggled to develop local
networks with associated visions and actions. State-led development of collaborative
networks is particularly difficult in former Soviet countries, where there is cultural
resistance to state mandated cooperation (Peneva et al. , this volume). Although different
types of niches required different types of support (bottom-up networks to anchor into the
regime and top-down to form coherent niches) in both cases, these networks took
considerable time to develop (Lošťák et al. , this volume, estimate 5 to 10 years). This
issue needs to be recognized, to ensure sufficient duration of government investment.
The particular challenge in facilitating sustainability transitions in the agricultural
sector is that the process pits markets for food and fibre against artificially created markets
for public goods. Where technology-based cases are the focus, state intervention can
develop new markets (e.g. for renewable energy) through state mandated targets, with the
long term aim of full market integration. For less marketable public goods, mimicking
market conditions (such as using grants and income support for HNVF) can lead to
successful up-take but the long-term sustainability of such subsidy dependence is
questionable.
Recently, European governments have explored concepts of payments for ecosystem
services , partly in an attempt to shift some of the burden of this responsibility. In the case
study in Mangfall Valley, Germany (Vlahos and Schiller, this volume) the city of Munich
opted to secure the quality of its water by subsidizing conversion to organic farming. This
was effective in terms of water quality, but raised different challenges, owing to the