The Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) is an analytical framework developed to explain transitions towards sustainability. This article aims to contribute to enhancing the use of the MLP to understand the transitions towards sustainability in agriculture. We propose that MLP is an insightful framework to capture particular micro-level trajectories of adopting innovations. The Douro wine region in Northern Portugal, known worldwide for the wines that are produced there, was the study area of our empirical research. This region has become the stage for developing a complex agroecological innovation, the Ecological Infrastructures (EIs). These consist of a combination of techniques that aim to expand the ecosystem services of the vineyards. The uniqueness of its development at the farm level originates a multiplicity of innovation trajectories, which are the focus of this study. Content analysis of 20 interviews with winegrowers was performed, and the results were analysed through the MLP framework. This allowed us to conclude that a process of transition towards the sustainability of region-level winegrowing is underway, and that it can be explained by the overlapping of different paths of adopting innovation. Our research shows that in-depth analysis of qualitative data, done through content analysis, can be used to amplify the insightfulness of MLP by enabling it to uncover the microscale transition pathways that shape uneven region-level transitions.
Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo é aplicar a Multi Level Perspective (MLP) a um caso de transição para a sustentabilidade da agricultura que ocorre a partir do desenvolvimento de uma inovação agroecológica. À perspectiva temporal e multinível dada pela MLP, conjugamos o conceito de Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS), com a intenção de conciliar uma dimensão territorial para a análise. O cenário empírico é a região vitivinícola do Douro, em Portugal, na qual se disseminou uma inovação denominada Infraestrutura Ecológica (IE). Metodologicamente, fizemos entrevistas pessoais estruturadas, realizadas com agricultores ou gestores agrícolas, representantes de explorações comerciais de uva e vinho. Constatamos que há um princípio de transição liderado por agricultores corporativos que comercializam no mercado global. Este princípio de transição está alicerçado na mobilização de um AKIS territorial que permitiu o desenvolvimento do arcabouço cognitivo e técnico que estruturou o setor para sua articulação às demandas de mercado. Entretanto, este AKIS não é igualmente mobilizado pelos diferentes agricultores, o que se manifesta em distintas respostas de adoção da inovação. O caso explicita como as pressões de paisagem sociotécnica, representada pelo mercado, podem criar diferentes respostas no regime local.
This paper employs MLP (Multi Level Perspective) applied to a study on the transition to SFSC (short food supply chain) innovation taking place in North-West Portugal. MLP allows capturing transition phenomena and analysing them from a perspective that posits intervening factors and events on a three-level scale. Emphasis is laid on the institutional actors and factors that influence these processes, namely the Three Interrelated Analytic Dimensions and Types of Anchoring. Methodologically, personal interviews were conducted with 34 farmers who either are carrying out SFSC initiatives, or have dropped out, or even have never considered participating in them. A process of anchoring the innovation to the local socio-technical regime has been identified, characterised by a low buy-in from institutions and stakeholders. The anchoring that has been found has the peculiarity of occurring only in some points of the intersection between niche and regime, in a process in which it survives bordering this threshold, thanks to the mobilisation of multiple innovations. This type of anchoring, not yet described in the literature, draws attention to a possible pathway that innovations can follow, and brings implications for projects and for policy proposals to support the agroecological transition.
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