EU agri-innovation policy: two contending visions of the bio-economy

Levidow, Les; Birch, Kean; Παπαϊωάννου, Θεόδωρος

doi:10.1080/19460171.2012.659881

Cited by 129 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…It is a modernization process that does not fundamentally question specialized farming systems and the homogeneous associated landscapes with low crop and animal biodiversity and standardized agricultural practices (Horlings and Marsden 2011). It is strongly supported by public and private applied research and policy (Levidow et al 2012;Vanloqueren and Baret 2009). The main limitations of efficiency/substitution-based agriculture could be addressed with biodiversity-based agriculture, which, however, has its own weaknesses.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Strong ecological modernization of agriculture, hereafter called biodiversity-based agriculture, is similar to "ecologically intensive agriculture" or "eco-functional intensification" (Levidow et al 2012) or "sustainable intensification of agriculture" (Garnett and Godfray 2012;Pretty et al 2011). It refers to an ecocentric approach (Hill 1998) that relies on high biological diversification of farming systems ) and intensification of ecological interactions between biophysical system components that promote fertility, productivity, and resilience to external perturbations (Bellon and Hemptinne 2012;Malézieux 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite reducing anthropogenic inputs, efficiency/ substitution-based agriculture can fail to meet some environmental objectives by not fully including negative externalities in agrifood prices (Levidow et al 2012;Marsden 2012;de Schutter and Vanloqueren 2011). It is a modernization process that does not fundamentally question specialized farming systems and the homogeneous associated landscapes with low crop and animal biodiversity and standardized agricultural practices (Horlings and Marsden 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

How to implement biodiversity-based agriculture to enhance ecosystem services: a review

Duru

Thérond

Martin

et al. 2015

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

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Intensive agriculture has led to several drawbacks such as biodiversity loss, climate change, erosion, and pollution of air and water. A potential solution is to implement management practices that increase the level of provision of ecosystem services such as soil fertility and biological regulation. There is a lot of literature on the principles of agroecology. However, there is a gap of knowledge between agroecological principles and practical applications. Therefore, we review here agroecological and management sciences to identify two facts that explain the lack of practical applications: (1) the occurrence of high uncertainties about relations between agricultural practices, ecological processes, and ecosystem services, and (2) the site-specific character of agroecological practices required to deliver expected ecosystem services. We also show that an adaptive-management approach, focusing on planning and monitoring, can serve as a framework for developing and implementing learning tools tailored for biodiversity-based agriculture. Among the current learning tools developed by researchers, we identify two main types of emergent support tools likely to help design diversified farming systems and landscapes: (1) knowledge bases containing scientific supports and experiential knowledge and (2) model-based games. These tools have to be coupled with well-tailored field or management indicators that allow monitoring effects of practices on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Finally, we propose a research agenda that requires bringing together contributions from agricultural, ecological, management, and knowledge management sciences, and asserts that researchers have to take the position of "integration and implementation sciences."

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

How to implement biodiversity-based agriculture to enhance ecosystem services: a review

Duru

Thérond

Martin

et al. 2015

Agron. Sustain. Dev.

462

283

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…As several scholars have noted (e.g. Hilgartner 2007; Birch, Levidow, and Papaioannou 2010;Levidow, Birch, and Papaioannou 2012), sociotechnical imaginaries of the bio-economy play an important role in configuring its future politics and policies. Geographical imaginaries are important here too, as Ponte and Birch (2014, 271) argue, in that sociotechnical imaginaries are spatially bounded and 'centred on specific geographical spaces, places and territories'.…”

Section: Geographic Perspectives On Sttsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical perspectives on sociotechnical transitions and emerging bio-economies: introduction to a special issue

Calvert

Kedron

Baka

et al. 2017

Technology Analysis & Strategic Management

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“…This role has been analysed elsewhere through case studies extending 'imaginaries' to the EU policy context. Within the EU's master narrative of societal progress, the knowledgebased bio-economy encompasses rival imaginaries, linking future technoscientific advance with an economic community in different ways (Birch et al, 2010;Levidow et al, 2012a). The EU's economic and sociotechnical imaginaries are mutually reinforcing, potentially as self-fulfilling prophecies.…”

Section: Future Visions As Imaginariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

UK Biofuel Policy: Envisaging Sustainable Biofuels, Shaping Institutions and Futures

Levidow

Παπαϊωάννου

2014

Environ Plan A

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Abstract. Technoscientific innovation has played a central role in UK biofuel policy. When the government was proposing mandatory targets in 2007-08, public controversy over 'unsustainable biofuels' was channelled into prospects for future biofuels to avoid environmental harm and land-use conflicts. This vision serves as an imaginary-a feasible, desirable future. Societal benefits have been envisaged according to specific models of economic competitiveness, valuable knowledge, and environmental sustainabilitytogether comprising a prevalent imaginary of future 'sustainable biofuels'. This has informed institutional change along two lines. First, targets are envisaged as a temporary transition until future 'advanced biofuels' make liquid fuel more sustainable. Second, UK research institutes realign their priorities towards seeking investment from foreign counterparts and global energy companies, in the name of making UK science and industry more competitive. Together these measures have been justified as necessary for a transition to advanced biofuels which would better contribute to a low-carbon economy. Although this imaginary may eventually be transformed into reality, initially realised has been institutional change that reinforces infrastructural dependence on liquid fuel for the internal combustion engine. As an imaginary, then, 'sustainable biofuels' can help explain how a policy agenda promotes one future, while marginalising alternatives.

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EU agri-innovation policy: two contending visions of the bio-economy

Cited by 129 publications

References 8 publications

How to implement biodiversity-based agriculture to enhance ecosystem services: a review

How to implement biodiversity-based agriculture to enhance ecosystem services: a review

Geographical perspectives on sociotechnical transitions and emerging bio-economies: introduction to a special issue

UK Biofuel Policy: Envisaging Sustainable Biofuels, Shaping Institutions and Futures

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