It is challenging to identify the deciding success factors for an effective and efficient implementation of collective agri-environmental schemes (AES). The relatively short implemantation phase of the  collective model as a nationwide scheme and the diversified environment around the different implementation levels make identifying success factors a rather complex task. We found no common indicators or quantitative data to compare agricultural collectives regarding their performance to realize their environmental targets. So the question for us was: How to make the performance in different cases easily comparable and thus identify the relating success factors via a Multi criteria Decision Making model?

The only available data to tackle this question was qualitative data collected in SWOT analyses at the beginning of the project. Each Contract Innovation Lab (CIL) was asked to complete a SWOT analysis assessing internal and external factors that affect the effective provision of environmental public goods. However, the challenge remained to simultaneously compare the results of several SWOT analyses and use them in a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model. To this end, we introduced a new technique: The SWOT scorecard (Rudolf and Udovč, 2022). Here we explain how we developed this new technique.

1. Preparing a decision tree for MCDM

In the first step of our modeling process, we created a decision tree, a decision support tool typically using a tree-like structure to visualize decisions and their potential consequences. We used an individual decision-making approach based on a qualitative analysis of the relevant literature. Using a hierarchical top-down approach, we identified the main goals and the corresponding attributes, criteria, and sub-criteria that should influence the synergy between aspects in the collective case studies.

The criteria are still being investigated and are not yet final. However, for testing the SWOT scorecard technique, they were appropriate.

2. From SWOT Scorecard to MCDM model

The following steps describe how the SWOT scorecard technique can be used to arrange qualitative data to feed into an MCDM DEX model.

Step 1: First, we organized descriptive SWOT results by criteria for every analyzed collective scheme, making sure to keep track of the origin of data (S, W, O, and T factors). This step gives us a set of so-called ‘prime input data.’

Step 2: We applied the SWOT scorecard technique, transforming the ‘prime input data’ with a formula to numeric results. The SWOT scorecard sums the importance of S, W, O, and T factors for the criteria.

Step 3: Transforming the SWOT scorecard results to a descriptive scale that can be used in the DEX model. This gives us options of values of basic attributes and is the input data for the DEX model.

Step 4: In the last step, the descriptive values are fed into the DEX model. The SWOT scorecard keeps track of the results from SWOT analysis. It considers the diversity of collective schemes, which results in the appearance of common variables that can be described with the same name. This is key for comparing the collective schemes regarding environmental public goods delivery. Furthermore, we get results of success factors for any number of collective AES.

3. Towards a decision support tool

The DEX model is a first step towards building a decision support tool for decision-makers dealing with the design and implementation of collective AES, who would like to understand better the success factors contributing to an improved provision of environmental public goods. We are now building a user-friendly interface that links our database and the DEX model to make it accessible for decision-makers.

For more detailed information, check our paper, which was published in Sustainability, vol. 14 (2), 2022.

Written by: Janja Rudolf, Biotechnical faculty, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)

On Friday, January the 28th 2022 from 9:30 am – 1:30 pm, the EU-funded research & innovation project Contracts2.0 hosts the Online Policy Event:

Implementing the Collective Approach in Agri-environmental Schemes – Evidence from Science and Practice

Here you find links to the recorded presentations of the Webinar!

Contracts2.0 develops innovative contractual solutions to strengthen participation in agri-environmental measures (AEM) and to improve their effectiveness.

 This event summarizes relevant project results focusing on the collective approach to inform stakeholders involved in implementing the national strategic plans across Europe. The first part will present scientific findings, featuring the effects of collective contracts on cropland birds or a multi-criteria decision support tool for policy makers by example of  selected collective case studies.

The second part will shed light on the diversity of collective agreements in practice. Three case studies (UK, BE, and NL) will present different implementation depths of the collective approach. A Q&A session will conclude the event. With a panel and the audience, we want to discuss the potential policy implications regarding the practical implementation.

Here you find the agenda!

The network analysis of the Collective Natuurrijk Limburg reveals the various actors involved and their (formal and informal) relations. The well-developed practice of cooperation between the actors contribute greatly to the success of the scheme, even though some challenges could be detected. The social capital (trust, knowledge exchange, social cohesion etc.) within the network is crucial for the effectiveness of the measures and the motivation of farmers to join a collective.

This study focuses on one of the forty existing collectives, located in the South-east of the Netherlands. The collective Natuurrijk Limburg covers the whole area of the Province of Limburg and has about 1300 members, making it the largest of all Dutch collectives.

This research uses Social Network Analysis (SNA) which is an umbrella term for a body of research methods that try to analyse underlying structures of social networks. Important actors, as well as their formal and informal connections, motivations and influences are inquired. Relevant interviewees were identified through referral sampling and eight interviews were conducted in total. Thereby we ensured to cover different views from farmers, representatives of the collective as well as governmental organizations. Five respondents are on the provincial level in Limburg, while three are on the national level of the ANLb (ANLb – Agricultural Nature and Landscape Management).

The research was guided by the following two research questions:

1. Who are the central actors and how do they interact?
2. In which way does the presence of social capital influence the functionality of the network?

Governance Tasks are Decentralized and Partly Outsourced from Governmental Responsibility

The formal network representation (Figure 1) shows the decentralized approach of the agri-environmental program. Basically, the framework conditions are set on EU and national level but the province is the responsible authority that carries out the program in collaboration with the collective through the so-called “front-door-back-door”- approach of contracting. However, governance tasks are shared among different actors in a more complex way leading to cross-level feedback loops.

Fig. 1: Network representation of formal relations

The province is involved in decisions on the national framework of the program. There is an execution unit for nature related issues from the 12 provinces (Bij12) that supports them with information exchange and advice. In this way, regional concerns are considered in fundamental decisions. In addition, regional interests from the collectives are represented by their umbrella organization BoerenNatuur through participation in the national steering meetings. They are the voice for the collectives. BoerenNatuur also disseminates information from government or nature conservation organizations to the collectives. As an important service for the collectives, BoerenNatuur runs an IT-system that allows the collectives comfortably to indicate which measures are implemented at plot level. The very well-designed IT-System increases also increases flexibility by enabling a “last minute management”. The role of BoerenNatuur as a linking actor is not to underestimate. Yet, interviewees on local level did not name them as important because they may have no direct contact with them.

Regarding the checking of the agreed measures, there is a parallel structure. Central government authorities (RVO and NVWA) audit the fulfilment of the contract at an administrative level and on a random basis also at the field level (on-the-spot checks). The collective itself undertakes checks at field level which often help to identify difficulties in fulfilling the contract early on when adjustments are still possible. In consequence, the province decides on sanctions in the form of reduced payment to the collective in case the controlling agencies detected errors. The collective however decides how they deal with non-compliance of individual farmers according to their statutes (e.g. “red card” with the requirement to repeat the measure, reduced payment etc.).

The Importance of Social Capital for the Governance Network

Informal relations between the actors make the network much denser (see Figure 2). These relations are important for knowledge and information exchange in parallel to the formal communication channels. They also connect actors who are not connected formally, e.g., the collective and nature conservation organizations, or the regional water board, who have ecological expertise and data that are necessary to plan targeted measures. Another example is the integration of the farmers’ association in Limburg who contribute agronomic expertise and have certain influence on the members. Informal relations can be seen as a complement to the formal ones.

Fig. 2: Network representation showing both formal and informal links. Size of nodes indicates how well an actor is connected

The social cohesion within the collective, among members and between members and the organization is important to motivate members to engage in the program. Therefore, the collective organizes meetings and exchange of small groups on the field. Since Natuurrijk Limburg is a large collective, there cannot be personal relationships between all members. The nested structure of four local sub-collectives who can bring members in their territory together helps to maintain connectedness to the collective at the regional level.

Hence, it is important that the staff at the regional level also tries to be in direct contact with members. In that sense, the fieldworkers play an essential role. They are hired by the regional collective and maintain the direct communication with members through providing advice on site. They do the on-site checking of the agreed measures for the collective. They do this in dialogue with the members of the collective, which contributes to a feeling of trust in the organization and the program in general.

Social capital also facilitates cooperation between heterogeneous actors that differ in organizational backgrounds, interests, or formal power hierarchies. Joint evaluation of collective and province on a regular basis on how the program works is important so that solutions to potential bottlenecks can be discussed. Besides planned budget cuts several interviewees stated a lack of support from the province, meaning rather the decision-makers than the people from the administration, in terms of developing a shared vision and promoting the collectives’ work in the region. However, regarding the formal contracting, the collective and the province work together efficiently. The fact that individual farmers no longer need to negotiate with the government in case of dissatisfaction on how measures were carried out is highly appreciated by all actors.

This text is an excerpt of a research note written by Berner, R. & Barghusen, R. (2022)

 Check out this blogpost featuring the  developments in the two Dutch Contracts2.0-Case studies. 

Photo by Harm Kossen (Natuurrijk Limburg)

A student project analysed an organic food value chain by interviewing stakeholders including production, processing and retailing as well as politics. The objective was to find out how relationships within value chains have to be build out to promote a sustainable value chain. The most important result was that cooperation at eye level between all stakeholders is necessary to strengthen biodiversity and ecosystem services in a sustainable organic value chain.

 Organic farming has great potential to contribute to an environmentally sound and sustainable agricultural production. It integrates the objective of conserving natural resources into its core principles, and therefore has a variety of positive effects on the environment. It can also play a vital role in the efforts regarding climate protection and climate adaptation.

The HiPP Contract Innovation Lab of Contracts2.0 focuses on services that can be achieved in organic value chains in addition to those already generated by requirements of organic farming associations. An innovative contract-based approach along organic food value chains could provide support or incentives for farmers to contribute to strengthening biodiversity and ecosystem services in addition to producing food, i.e. integrating them into sourcing and quality strategies within food production.

Exploring the Potential of Sustainable Organic Value Chains

As part of a study project in parallel to the work in the HiPP CIL, students from Leibniz University Hannover, Germany, discussed ways of making organic value chains more sustainable. The students conducted a case study in which stakeholders along the value chain of an organic grain mill were interviewed on the topics of sustainability, biodiversity and ecosystem services. The stakeholders included farmers, mill managers, retail partners as well as staff of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and Ministry of the Environment of Lower Saxony. Within these interviews, the following subjects were discussed:

• Strengths and weaknesses of a sustainable organic grain value chain,
• Framework conditions to set up a more sustainable value chain from the perspective of the various stakeholders,
• A theoretical cooperation model which describes the mutual demands and commitments of the stakeholders.

The following sections focus on the description of the cooperation model and the necessary framework conditions that underpin this model.

What are the Necessary Framework Conditions?

Important framework conditions for creating a sustainable organic value chain promoting biodiversity and ecosystem services, are communication, trust and cooperation of all internal and external stakeholders. This includes information exchange, knowledge exchange, the communication of ecological values, and education.

Examples are fair prices and price transparency. For example, the studied grain mill introduced a so-called “base price model” for long-term pricing to counteract market fluctuations. This guarantees farmers greater security in the sale of their products.

Another point that was addressed is the buying behaviour and the appreciation of organic products by consumers. On the one hand, consumers must be convinced and informed that organic or regional products could be more expensive and it is worth paying this extra effort. On the other hand, farmers must be made aware of the added value of sustainable projects, both ecologically and economically.

Last but not least, political funding and financing plays an important role. This funding can support pilot projects testing pathways to sustainable organic value chains. An example of such a promotion of regional initiatives is the producer association “Kostbares Südniedersachsen”. Here, public funding has been successively discontinued and replaced by retailers’ initiatives. This is a rare example, because until now such approaches have been financed predominantly by food processors from their own funds.

In addition, policies contribute to the adherence to the principles of a sustainable value chain and production security for the various stakeholders through guidelines and operation standards, such as the “Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supple Chains”.

Developing a Cooperation Model to Identify Needs and Commitments of the Stakeholders

The outputs generated through the interviews were visualized in a cooperation model. The following figure shows the complex interlinkages between the stakeholders within this cooperation model of the sustainable grain value chain. The individual needs and commitments of the stakeholders are shown and describe the most important topics of cooperation among the various stakeholders.

The model also shows that the stakeholders mainly share the same beliefs. An example is the desire for closer cooperation and the development of joint projects as well as a transparent, reliable and trustworthy communication.

Fig. 1: Framework conditions for a possible cooperation model between stakeholders within a sustainable grain value chain and their cooperation, mutual needs and demands as well as offerings and commitments (Hoffmann et al. 2021).

According to this cooperation model and the underlying interviews, different recommendations for action are made to the respective stakeholders. In the area of finance, these refer, for example, to the topics of price transparency, pricing and funding. Farmers demand more price transparency from processors (Figure 2) or listing and promoting additional services provided by them on their products (Figure 3).

Fig. 3: Promotion of a nature conservation measure on noodle packaging [“For this pasta an insect friendly meadow was created”] © Hoffmann et al. 2021

Another field of action is the marketing and purchase of regional products via producers, processing companies and food retailers as well as the communication between all stakeholders along the value chain. For this reason, all stakeholders, from farmers to retailers, demand a direct exchange of information among themselves, within their own companies, and also with external stakeholders such as nature conservation associations, advisory bodies and scientists. Besides promoting additional environmental measures on products and at the point of sale, it is important to communicate the environmental value of organic products to all stakeholders in a sustainable value chain.

Outlook

The considerations described refer exclusively to regional grain value chains. More work could be done to value chains with direct marketing or inclusion of international supply chains to see if the model is transferable. Moreover, the developed model is theoretical and thus the results do not allow any conclusions about the concrete arrangement and funding of the additional services and the necessary framework conditions.

Written by: Louisa Hoffmann, Kristina Bastian, Maike Barsties, Madeleine Brockmann, Michel Graas, Sara Grzywatz, Lara-Sophie Hinz, Pauline Kehl and Clara Lütgendorf (Leibniz University Hannover – LUH)

Supervision: Birte Bredemeier, Sylvia Herrmann (LUH)

To cite: Hoffmann et al. (2021): Nachhaltige Lebensmittelproduktion und Ökosystemleistungen. Masterprojekt an der Leibniz Universität Hannover, Sommersemester 2021.