Towards a Better Conceptual Framework for Innovation Processes in Agriculture and Rural Development: From Linear Models to Systemic Approaches

Abstract

The role of farming previously dedicated mainly to food production changed with an increasing recognition of the multifunctionality of agriculture and rural areas. It seems obvious to expect that farmers and rural actors adapt themselves to these new conditions, which are innovative and redefine their job. In many regions farmers can increase their income basis as rural entrepreneurs, developing new services and exploring new markets. Often, however, there is a gap between the need for change and farmers’ willingness to adjust, and the insufficient capacities of innovation agencies and advisory services to effectively support changes. In this contribution we discuss the kinds of gaps between present societal demands, the related farm-level adjustments, and the capacities of innovation agencies and advisory services. We explore a conceptual framework that understands innovation processes as the outcome of collaborative networks where information is exchanged and learning processes happen. We argue that technical and economic factors used to analyse drivers and barriers alone are not sufficient to understand innovation processes. The related social and institutional aspects of cross-sector as well as intra-sector processes are explored. Overall, we emphasize that innovation functions as a process where farmers’ and rural entrepreneurs’ knowledge, motivations and values play an important role. We emphasize that institutions, administrations and extension services, whose mission it is to support changes, can become barriers to innovation if they do not acknowledge that the needs of farmers and of society have changed. The paper builds on the conceptual level work carried out in the on-going EU funded IN-SIGHT research programme with multidisciplinary teams from seven European countries.

Keywords:

• Innovation
• Knowledge systems
• Agriculture
• Rural development
• Systemic approaches
• Sustainability

Notes

1. This paper is based on the collaborative work of all colleagues involved in the EU-funded IN-SIGHT project. The original work can be found in project reports at www.insightproject.net.

2. ‘Social innovation’ refers to new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet social needs of all kinds—from working conditions and education to community development and health. Over the years, the term has developed several overlapping meanings. It can be used to refer to social processes of innovation, such as open source methods. Alternatively it can be used to refer to innovations which have a social purpose—like microcredit or distance learning. The concept can also be related to social entrepreneurship, and it also overlaps with innovation in public policy and governance.

3. Tacit knowledge is also described as localized knowledge (Antonelli, 1996). It is about savoir faire, about knowing how to do things. It resembles very much the concept of art de la localité that was introduced into rural sociology by Henri Mendras (1970). It is knowledge not yet expressed in ‘words’, that is, in codified sets of rules that explain the what and why. Lundvall (1996) stresses that there is a ‘symbiotic relation’ between the two forms of knowledge. Codified knowledge may be utilized only through recourse to tacit knowledge.

4. See the EU projects LEARN (http://www.inra.fr/learning/index.htm), HarmoniCOP (http://www.usf.uni-osnabrueck.de/~pahl/ projekte/harmonicop/index.en.html) and SLIM (www.slim.open.ac.uk).

5. The concept of learning-by-doing has been used by Kenneth Arrow in his design of endogenous growth theory to explain effects of innovation and technical change.