Agriculture Reference
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specific sectors (for example Geels's 2007 analysis of radio and recording regimes within
the music industry). Smith
et al.
(2010) argue for the need to develop means of
systematically defining and bounding the system under question, going so far as to suggest
the definition of indicators and specific measures.
Thus, after the collection and analysis of sufficient background information for an
emerging transition to be identified,
the definition of the incumbent regime
is the first issue
to be addressed, as the very notion of transition is defined in relation to a regime
transformation. This implies a description of the established socio-technical configuration
which has already changed or is in the process of changing. In this present research, a
regime is defined as “fairly stable rules, including cognitive routines, shared beliefs,
capabilities and competencies, lifestyles and user practices, institutional arrangements and
regulations, and legally binding contracts” (Darnhofer, this volume:19). The emphasis on
rules is suggestive of function - that the regime fulfils an important societal function. As
such, the criterion for the definition of a regime has been the fulfilment of a social need
such as mobility, housing, food, energy, etc. Subsequently, within each regime a number of
sub-regimes can be identified, following the logic of a system which consists of various
interdependent sub-systems.
The challenge of defining regimes in relation to emerging transitions is the scale at
which the regime is defined. As Smith
et al
. (2005) point out, what appears to be a radical
transformation of a regime at one level may represent an incremental change to a larger
regime, if the regime is defined at a higher level. For the purposes of consistency, and to
reflect the emphasis of this topic on agricultural systems, all 'thematic' chapters of this
volume refer to initiatives that in one way or another relate to an agri-food regime. This
agri-food regime contains the production, processing and marketing sub-regimes and,
depending on the context, might develop some connections with other regimes such as the
recreation regime. As such, the regime largely corresponds to the agricultural sector,
although we recognize that the two are conceptually distinct.
A particular challenge to assessing transitions in the agricultural sector is the multiple
functions of agriculture. Whereas by definition regimes serve a single societal function, it is
well established in the literature that agriculture serves multiple functions such as amenity,
environmental protection, and preservation of cultural heritage. These functions could be
included as sub-regimes but fit poorly alongside processing, production and marketing sub-
regimes all of which target production more broadly. In some cases, these multiple
functions of agriculture have more in common with other sectors such as energy, tourism
and housing. As such, we chose to identify the primary function of the agricultural regime
as production of agricultural commodities, with environmental protection, energy
production and recreational functions identified as distinct but overlapping regimes.
How do we analyse a regime? Regimes are not static entities; instead, they are
perceived as dynamic configurations. In order to assess whether a transition is occurring,
the
trends
that are embedded in a regime need to be identified. In the case of the agri-food
regime, trends include: homogenization of production structures and commoditization of
food consumer products; intensification and accompanying farm specialization and
appropriation; enlargement and globalization of value chains; unequal distribution of value
added and power across the agri-food system; and energy consumption. Accordingly,
consideration of the '
counter-factual
situation
' can be useful for identification of the
dynamics (the evolution) of the dominant regime (in other words what would be occurring
if a transition were not underway).
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