SISA cop+

Around 2010, when the SISA (system innovation towards sustainable agriculture) initiative was launched and the first SISA workshop organized in Lelystad (the Netherlands) by WUR and INRA, the European research agenda on agricultural innovation was largely characterized by two visions on innovation in agriculture: one vision based on the emerging Knowledge-Based Bio-Economy (KBBE) paradigm (with the overall objective to combine life sciences and techno-scientific development to develop means to use agricultural resources more efficiently) and an alternative vision, based on the Agricultural Knowledge Systems paradigm (with the objective to develop ‘co-creation’ relationships between all relevant knowledge-producers and stakeholders, including farmers). In that situation, the SISA initiative proposed a more analytical standpoint by fostering scientific reflection on “Transitions for Sustainable Agriculture”, as expressed by the title of the edited volume based on the first SISA workshop that appeared in 2012. Our starting point was that making agriculture more sustainable was not simply a matter of choosing one vision over the other, but to understand and to reflect on processes at the level of system innovations, of knowledge regimes, and of design practices. In our view it was key to analyse ongoing developments, practices, actions, projects, with a specific attention for the development of ‘novelties’ in niches, and how such niche developments can start transformation processes in the agricultural system (or ‘regime’) at large. The second SISA workshop, held in Paris from 22-23 May 2014, built further on this and the second volume published of the SISA2 conference has been issued in 2017.

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While some scholars had already promoted the notion of transition at the start of the SISA initiative, the idea of transition towards a more sustainable future has certainly gained recognition in agricultural research and policy over the past five years. The idea that transitions towards sustainable agriculture are both needed and possible has been picked up in the work of many organizations, including government bodies, NGOs, professional organizations and research institutions. Various publications, including White Papers by the EU and different national governments, as well as FAO reports, define future targets and objectives to improve sustainability in various agricultural sub-sectors like animal production, arable farming, or glasshouse horticulture. Furthermore, the take-off of the KBBE vision has also sparked growing concerns about the sustainable use of biomass for fuel, feed and fibers. This has led to public and policy debates on ethical and economic issues related to the multi-functionality of agriculture. But are increasing debate and increasing concern being translated into action? And do actions lead to changes towards more sustainable agriculture? Or does it lead to the cynical conclusion “the more things change, the more they stay the same”? Many scholars remain skeptical when hearing about agroecological transitions, expecting further examples of greenwashing that have been demonstrated so often in various other areas.

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The different expectations concerning the possibility of agro ecological transitions are less due to differences in visions, than to confidence in possibilities to govern the development of agri-food systems in a different direction. Yet, pressures from the public as well as from various policy arenas are increasing to change agricultural production to be able to feed a growing world population in a sustainable way. This is certainly visible by a rapidly growing number of alternative approaches in niches but various social movements and public discourses are increasingly pressing for changes of the agricultural system at large. In such discourses, all aspects of current ways of food provisioning are questioned and debated with a broad variety of stakeholders taking part in these discussions. Jointly, these can be seen as a movement towards a reflexive governance of food systems that include the conditions of producing but also the consumption of food products, recycling and avoiding food waste.