J.D. van der Ploeg

Exploring multifunctional agriculture. A review of conceptual approaches and prospects for an integrative transitional framework

In the last decade the multifunctional agriculture (MFA) concept has emerged as a key notion in scientific and policy debates on the future of agriculture and rural development. Broadly speaking, MFA refers to the fact that agricultural activity beyond its role of producing food and fibre may also have several other functions such as renewable natural resources management, landscape and biodiversity conservation and contribution to the socio-economic viability of rural areas. The use of the concept can be traced to a number of wider societal and political transformation processes, which have influenced scientific and policy approaches in different ways amongst countries and disciplines. This paper critically discusses various existing research approaches to MFA, both from natural and social sciences. To this aim different strands of literature are classified according to their focus on specific governance mechanisms and levels of analysis into four main categories of research approaches (market regulation, land-use approaches, actor-oriented and public regulation approaches). For each category an overview of the state-of-the-art of research is given and an assessment is made of its strengths and weaknesses. The review demonstrates that the multifunctionality concept has attracted a wealth of scientific contributions, which have considerably improved our understanding of key aspects of MFA. At the same time approaches in the four categories have remained fragmented and each has limitations to understand MFA in all its complexity due to inherent constraints of applied conceptualizations and associated disciplinary backgrounds. To go beyond these limitations, we contend, new meta-level frameworks of analysis are to be developed that enable a more integrated approach. The paper concludes by presenting the main lines of an integrative, transitional framework for the study of MFA, which analyses multifunctional agriculture against the background of wider societal change processes towards sustainability and identifies a number of key elements and research challenges for this.

Managing technical-institutional design processes: some strategic lessons from environmental co-operatives in the Netherlands

In this paper the case of the environmental co-operatives VEL and VANLA is reviewed in terms of coevolving technical and institutional change and the strategic lessons to be learned for a pro-active management of such complex technical-institutional design processes. Facing the many-sided crisis in agriculture the two co-operatives developed a radically different approach. The aim is to re-ground agriculture in local agro-ecological processes following the approach of lowering external inputs (i.e., material inputs, capital and labour). The results are promising: a system-innovation is emerging out of a wide range of connected novel operational practices (i.e., novelties) including technical as well as institutional aspects. The findings of VEL and VANLA stress once again the need for a simultaneous redesign of technical and institutional change to facilitate a transition towards a more sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, we conclude that this transition cannot but be rooted in promising, innovative practices that embody the potential to challenge conventional scientific approaches to sustainable agricultural development. More space should be created for ‘smart’ experimentation exploring and evaluating the potentialities of different transition paths.

Farm diversity, classification schemes and multifunctionality

Diversity is not only intrinsic to agriculture; it can be considered also as one of its main assets as it provides a wide range of responses that can help to face uncertain futures. The ongoing encounter between changing spatial and temporal frameworks and a set of diverse farming strategies is leading to the emergence of an ongoing flow of development models that could materialize in a wide range of farming practices, contrasting enterprise models, changing relations between rural households and agricultural holdings, and differentiated patterns that link farming and farming families to the wider context in which they are embedded. The many-sided diversity encountered in agriculture is not only the outcome of the agency and polyvalence of the actors involved; their agency and polyvalence are in turn inspired and strengthened by the material and symbolic diversity, which contributes to a further unfolding of diversity. A proper understanding of the range, dimensions, significance and causes of diversity has been, over the centuries, a main concern--first for what is now known as classical agronomy, and later on in agrarian sciences. Yet the classification schemes, developed and used for such an understanding, have increasingly become an Achilles heel as each of them relies on specific assumptions that will bring out particular features of the overall farm diversity and will result in different perspectives of what agriculture is and how it fits into societal projects. Consequently, they are at the core of many debates and struggles, not only within agrarian sciences but increasingly on a wider societal level. The growing recognition of multifunctionality in agriculture, especially in the context of the changing EU policy, strengthens the relevance and importance of this debate. In this new context, we discuss advantages and limits of different classification principles by comparing two methodologies which have been extensively used in France and The Netherlands.

Re-balancing soil-plant-animal interactions: towards reduction of nitrogen losses

The practice of farming implies a continuous process of re-moulding and re-balancing of resources. Normally, this process is slow and hardly noticeable, but in times of transition towards sustainability it is accelerated and becomes more visible. Re-moulding and re-balancing require a careful and multifaceted monitoring as well as a high degree of involvement of the farmers concerned. This article is an overview that documents several aspects of the changes realized by two farmer co-operatives in the northern Netherlands: Vereniging Eastermar’s Lansdouwe (VEL) and Vereniging Agrarisch Natuur en Landschapsonderhoud Achtkarspelen (VANLA). It is shown that farmers process and manage manure, silages and diets. Emphasis is given to indications that the newly emerging balances are characterized by high levels of N efficiency. In a final combination of beta and gamma approaches it is shown that the goal-oriented practices of the VEL and VANLA farmers clearly indicate new trajectories towards and prospects for sustainability. Furthermore it is shown that recognition of relevant heterogeneity is crucial and that inter-farm comparisons, careful integration of beta and gamma approaches and multivariate modes of analysis are needed.

Dealing with novelties: a grassland experiment reconsidered

Abstract This article discusses a controversy that arose out of a grassland experiment in the Netherlands. Using the same data, one group of farmers and scientists concluded that a newly developed trajectory towards sustainability in dairy farming was highly effective, whilst a second group of scientists linked to the Research Institute for Animal Husbandry (PR) concluded the opposite. This article seeks to disentangle this controversy and, in so doing, discerns three levels of discussion. The first regards the understanding of agricultural processes of production as constantly changing practices. Here the concepts of co-production and novelties are introduced. The second level regards the methods for research design and analysis. Thirdly, there is the level of institutionalized research routines. These routines come down, amongst other things, to more or less standardized research questions, hypotheses and methods. Basically, level three contains a specific, and necessarily narrow, selection of concepts and methods from the first and second levels. The question, though, is whether such a selection is in line with markedly changing practices in agriculture. The article concludes that institutionalized research routines are unable to represent, understand and support novel and promising practices correctly.

Land concentration and land grabbing in Europe: a preliminary analysis

Abstract This article offers three insights. First, the renewed global land rush is indeed global: it occurs in the Global North too. Second, the ongoing trend of (generic) land concentration is just as problematic as land grabbing. Third, political processes involving actors at various sites and levels of the state and society mediate corporate and state interests in land, sometimes producing untended outcomes. New “deal brokers” (in finance, business and property) have joined the ranks of other elites (food empires, commercial producers, banks) to determine the dynamics of the European land rush.

The VEL and VANLA environmental co-operatives as field laboratories

This article describes the Nutrient Management Project of the environmental co-operatives VEL and VANLA as a field laboratory. A field laboratory is defined as a heterogeneous collection of inter-linked scientific studies performed by several actors within a specific field, but – as in normal laboratories – with some protection against outside interference and disturbance. The Nutrient Management Project of VEL and VANLA demonstrates several characteristics of field laboratories. Firstly, in the project, dairy farmers and scientists carry out joint research using different sources of knowledge. Secondly, apart from research the actors are engaged in changing the location, thereby developing new knowledge and practices. In the case of VEL and VANLA this means developing the fields and farms towards sustainability. Thirdly, the actors thoughtfully experiment with several research methodologies to gain understanding on a variety of issues. So within the field laboratory of VEL and VANLA there is heterogeneity in themes, disciplines and methodologies. Simultaneously a systems perspective is created as an interpretative scheme that links up all the different activities. Finally, within VEL and VANLA, alignment among practices, research and the institutional context is essential for the continuation of the research activities.

Interpretation of results from on-farm experiments: manure-nitrogen recovery on grassland as affected by manure quality and application technique. 1. An agronomic analysis

This article discusses the outcomes of a re-analysis of a grassland experiment, by locating it within the wider institutional context composed of well-established routines used in agronomic research and the dominant epistemological tradition of agricultural sciences. It is argued that both, research routines and epistemological tradition, are strategic pillars of the reigning socio-technical regime. They contribute to path-dependency, thus reinforcing the uni-lateral development tendency centring on technological solutions that fit within the dominating regime. An important, albeit probably unintended consequence is that promising novelties are obscured within and through research, thus blocking a potentially highly effective road towards sustainability.

Entrapped in Group Solidarity? Animal Welfare, the Ethical Positions of Farmers and the Difficult Search for Alternatives

Animal welfare in todays husbandry systems has become the subject of intense public debate, especially in the Netherlands. The debate reflects the moral tensions that exist between farmers, on the one hand, and the general public on the other, whose attitudes towards animal welfare vary considerably. The debate also shows that current legislation is not a satisfactory instrument for bridging these tensions and contradictions. This raises the question as to whether other strategies might be more successful in overcoming this gap and the underlying ethical controversies. A starting point for alternative strategies might be found in the diversity that exists among farmers themselves in their views about and practices regarding animal welfare. This article describes contrasting ethical positions towards animal welfare that can be found among Dutch dairy farmers and pig breeders. The associated practices in terms of animal care and treatment vary substantially. Some farmers strictly limit their practices to l...Animal welfare in todays husbandry systems has become the subject of intense public debate, especially in the Netherlands. The debate reflects the moral tensions that exist between farmers, on the one hand, and the general public on the other, whose attitudes towards animal welfare vary considerably. The debate also shows that current legislation is not a satisfactory instrument for bridging these tensions and contradictions. This raises the question as to whether other strategies might be more successful in overcoming this gap and the underlying ethical controversies. A starting point for alternative strategies might be found in the diversity that exists among farmers themselves in their views about and practices regarding animal welfare. This article describes contrasting ethical positions towards animal welfare that can be found among Dutch dairy farmers and pig breeders. The associated practices in terms of animal care and treatment vary substantially. Some farmers strictly limit their practices to legislative requirements. Others use different expressions of animal health and behaviour to judge animal well-being. Yet another group takes the intrinsic value of the animals and their natural behaviour as departure point for organizing their husbandry practices. This research indicates that these ethical positions, which can be found in both sectors, are related to different notions about ‘proper farming’. In this way, farmers ethical position vis-à-vis animals is a constituent of specific farming styles: it is part of their wider cultural repertoires. This suggests that they are not ‘changeable’ in a simple way.

Rural Development: Actors and Practices

From a more general point of view the initiatives and novel practices of farmers represent ‘seeds of transition’. They are the ‘sprouts’ out of which new socio-technical modes for organizing production and marketing emerge – ‘sprouts’ that, taken together can be described under the term ‘rural development’. The examples are, on the whole, well-known; they include agro-ecological production, on-farm processing, agro-tourism, new credit associations and cooperative forms of commercialization. But it remains important to develop a more sociological interpretation of these new forms: since they are produced by social actors and are constantly redefined and modified through the relations and interactions implied by these new forms. This chapter defines the outline on actors and practices that will be discussed in later chapters of the book.