Theme 1. Transformative changes

Convenors: Teresa Pinto Correia, Julie Ingram, Elisa Marracini, Martin Thorsøe

Rationale

Climate, environmental, social, political and economic challenges call for a transition towards more sustainable and equitable farming. To achieve this there are multiple ongoing transition pathways open to farmers. Such transitions are societal processes of change that combine government and private sector actions across multiple policy and economic levels including farming, advisory services, the agri-food sector, and market and finance entrepreneurs. In these transitions, new actors and ways of interacting are emerging, challenging traditional roles and relationships and raising questions of responsibility and empowerment. Furthermore, navigating synergies and trade-offs at the farm level between different land use options is increasingly complex and knowledge intensive.

Orientation for papers

Short papers are invited to address a range of topics, which include, but are not limited to, the following sub-themes:

Sub-Theme 1.1: Changing roles of the different actors 

With the transformative change paradigm, new interactions between the different actors (farmers, sector organizations, NGOs, consumers, administration, policy makers at different scales)  and new forms of science-society collaboration play an important role. The Living Labs model is a way to mobilize actors to work together, but other forms of collaborations and interaction exist and have been set in place. With this, new roles emerge where active participation for changes to occur also  requires empowerment. This change of roles is in itself a process of transformation, and many challenges emerge, not least for  researchers, as science aims to more actively address pressing  societal issues and to take on its societal  responsibility. Besides being appealing to politicians and civil servants struggling to create better mechanisms to link science with innovation, these developments are undoubtedly more appealing for certain academic disciplines than for others. We welcome contributions analysing these changing roles, challenges identified, solutions which have shown to support transformative change, and barriers and enablers for the different actors to feel confident in the processes of change taking place.

Sub-theme 1.2 Implications of natural capital private and public mechanisms 

Farmers are redeploying natural, financial, social and physical resources at the farm and landscape level, producing a range of private and public goods which create value in different ways for the farm business. New farm business models and revenue streams are emerging in the context of biodiversity, carbon farming, circular farming as part of the bioeconomy. As well as policy instruments, private sector (‘green’) finance is becoming important, both through markets for ecosystem services and nature based solutions (e.g. carbon, biodiversity) and through agri-food system premium payments. These new green business models potentially disrupt existing services, practices, markets and institutions, with new actor constellations emerging in the AKIS, traditional roles and relationships redefined, and power asymmetries reinforced. Meanwhile, new concepts, metrics and methodologies deployed as part of these changes, challenge farmer and adviser knowledge and understanding and demand new skills and competencies, as well as strong governance.

Sub-theme 1.3 Landscapes in transition

The landscape has emerged as a lens for understanding how transition unfolds across spatial and governance scales. This subtheme explores how farming systems adapt and respond to these shifts, particularly in light of emerging agendas such as climate change, nature restoration and implementation of agroecological production practices. We invite contributions that examine the enabling environment for broader landscape transition as well as the trade-offs, synergies and risks potentially linked with transitioning landscapes while maintaining productive and resilient farming systems.

Sub-theme 1.4 Farms in transition

Climate change, along with ongoing digital, agroecological, and food system transitions, is reshaping the way farmers manage their land, run their businesses, position themselves within agricultural and food systems, and interact with other stakeholders. This sub-theme examines how farmers are adapting their farms in response to these multifaceted transitions by identifying both the enablers and barriers to change. We invite contributions that present new concepts, innovative methodologies, and insights from case studies to deepen our understanding of how farms are evolving in both the short and long term, across diverse contexts—rural and urban areas, intensive and extensive systems, organic and conventional farming.