The aim of this book is to improve the understanding of transition processes in European agriculture. It focuses on 'emerging transitions' - how new organizational forms and technologies change, and are changed by, mainstream actors and practices in the agricultural sector. This is achieved through ...

This chapter delves further into the definitions of sustainability and transition and the key challenges (including recession, outmigration and global competition) to achieving sustainability transitions in European agriculture; and concludes with brief insights into the content of subsequent...

The analysis of on-farm renewable energy production in this chapter demonstrates how technologies developed in the agricultural sector have been 'translated' in response to changing landscape pressures on the energy regime. A socio-technical transition which (in Europe) originated in the...

This chapter focuses on alliances and resistances within niches at the regional scale, and on the specific processes which allow them to overcome barriers and enable an emerging transition. The case studies presented in this chapter are alternative agri-food networks (AAFNs) in three regions of...

In this chapter, local certification schemes are assessed in relation to the role that new forms of governance can play in facilitating sustainability transitions. The chapter focuses, particularly, on the interactions between new forms of horizontal governance emerging in local quality and...

The primary purpose of this book has been to assess the mechanisms involved in enabling sustainability transitions in European agriculture. This chapter highlights the cross-cutting themes from the research, emphasizing in particular the implications for sustainability transitions and the role of...

This chapter presents the core characteristics of studies of 'socio-technical transitions to sustainability', focusing on the multi-level perspective (MLP) and niche-regime linking. It includes a very brief overview of previous work on niche-internal processes, which was situated within research on ...

This chapter establishes the backdrop for regional-level transition in European agriculture, through an analysis of trends in the agricultural sector and rural areas over the past 30 years, proposing a typology of rural areas in Europe. It first sketches out the structure and diversity of European...

This chapter identifies the challenges of operationalizing the multi-level perspective (MLP) in empirical field research, and draws on experiences from field work in the FarmPath project as a case study of how these issues can be addressed. The purpose of the FarmPath project is to examine...

This chapter deals with the role of 'countryside consumption' as a driver of change in agricultural and land-based activities in Europe. It analyses how increasing utilization of the countryside as a space of consumption (such as for amenity, living space, and leisure activities) has led to a shift ...