Transitions Towards Sustainability in Corporate Agriculture: agro-ecological innovation in Douro viticulture, Portugal

Abstract:

The objective of this article is to apply the Multi Level Perspective (MLP) to a transition case of agricultural sustainability that occurs from the development of an agroecological innovation. To the temporal and multilevel perspective given by MLP, we conjugate the concept of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS), with the intention of reconciling a territorial dimension to the analysis. The empirical setting is the Douro wine region in Portugal, in which an innovation denominated Ecological Infrastructure (EI) has been disseminated. Methodologically, we conducted structured personal interviews with farmers or farm managers, representatives of commercial grape and wine farms. We found that there is a transition principle led by corporate farmers who trade in the global market. This transition principle is grounded in the mobilization of a territorial AKIS that allowed the development of the cognitive and technical framework that structured the sector for its articulation to market demands. However, this AKIS is not equally mobilized by the different farmers, which manifests itself in different innovation adoption responses. The case makes it clear how sociotechnical landscape pressures, represented by the market, can create different responses in the local regime.

Keywords:
viticulture; Douro; Portugal; transitions towards sustainability; MLP (Multi Level Perspective); AKIS (Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems)