WP4 addresses the challenge of guiding the sustainable agriculture mission through improved governance. This work package is particularly focused on co-creating governance structures that facilitate interaction between policy and societal actors, enhancing the overall directionality and effectiveness of the sustainable agriculture transition in the Netherlands. Together with stakeholders in provinces, this four-year PhD project will identify key actors, diagnose systemic blockers and devise new governance modes in support of a transition towards more sustainable agricultural practices. The research engages a broad spectrum of stakeholders from regional to national levels in a collaborative, iterative research process to co-design alternative governance arrangements fostering collective action.

WP tasks involve identifying systemic and governance-related blocking factors that hinder the transition to circular agriculture. Using a comprehensive literature review and qualitative data analysis with various actors the aim is to uncover underlying reasons for the empirical manifestations of these blocking factors within the Dutch context. Insights from this task are pivotal for understanding coordination challenges and assessing the feasibility of potential new arrangement across different actors and governance levels.

The PhD project will also assess the required and existing governance capacities among public and private actors to facilitate the sustainable agriculture transition. By conducting  ethnographic research and interviews, this task aims to bridge the gap between current and desired governance roles and responsibilities from local to national or European level. The aim of this task is to enhance the stakeholders’ understanding of each other’s potential to contribute to transformative change.

WP4 will result in collaboratively designed alternative governance arrangements involving stakeholders from academia, policy, and society. Partners will evaluate and compare various governance modes, considering the mission context and organisational, institutional or socio-technical constraints for transformation.