Abstract
The dairy sector is in a systemic lock-in due to reinforcing cycles. This qualitative study, based on 13 in-depth interviews with frontrunning dairy farmers and additional observations, challenges this impression by looking at the sustainable business model innovation from the inside-out perspective of the sustainability-driven niche. The theoretical foundation rests in market transformation, looking at the co-evolution of sustainable business models, regime, system barriers and niche players. The objective is to gain a better understanding on the practices of frontrunner dairy farmers that innovate and overcome system barriers in the transformation from the current regime. The data is collected in 2020 and the analysis is based on template analysis. This study clustered the practices in five groups: an extra margin on milk, perceived support for product diversification, partnerships with specialists, increased transparency, and use of modern technology. Additionally, the appreciation by the farmers of multiple realities and their entrepreneurial competencies helped the dairy farmers to re-establish a closer connection between farmer and consumer, and a better connection between farmer and the production environment, resulting in more biodiverse and landscape-inclusive dairy farming. These insights will help policy makers better cater to the beliefs and values of dairy farmers.
Highlights
This research is about understanding the reality as it is experienced by frontrunning dairy farmers in the Netherlands
To understand the connections between the practices enacted by the dairy farmers and how these practices changed the experienced system barriers, we did cluster the cases in five different approaches to develop sustainable business models
The core of this research focused on the transition from traditional farming to a more sustainable form by focusing on the enacted solutions and practices from the perspective of the pioneering dairy farmers, and aims to identify the system barriers within this dairy sector
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Dairy farming is an essential part of the Dutch economy. Sixty percent of the agricultural land in the Netherlands is used for dairy farming [1]. The number of dairy farms is approximately 17,000 in the Netherlands [1,2]), and the number of cows used for Dutch dairy farming has decreased over the years, currently amounting at 1,590,000
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