Abstract
Although it is not clear yet what a full-grown circular economy (CE) is going to look like, it is clear that the challenges of transitioning to a CE are both impressive and urgent. The Dutch government has expressed the ambition to establish a CE in the Netherlands in 2050. In the wake of this, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality laid down a vision on circular agriculture (CA). A key question with respect to both CE and CA is if and to what extent this means business as unusual: How distinct is circular business from normal business operations? The ways in which the notions of CE and circular business models (CBMs) are often introduced suggest a big difference. However, closer scrutiny also reveals that in practice the impact of circularity is less obvious. Against the backdrop of such opposite observations, this paper examines how Dutch farmers perceive circularity and what implications this has for their production practices. Interviews (n = 13) with Dutch farmers show that circular business is adapted in normal business management by some and regarded as a genuine alternative to the conventional food system by others. By taking Dutch farmers as an example, this paper aims to contribute to our understanding of how CE is interpreted in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Highlights
Wageningen Economic Research, Wageningen University and Research, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands; Abstract: it is not clear yet what a full-grown circular economy (CE) is going to look like, it is clear that the challenges of transitioning to a CE are both impressive and urgent
This paper explored the perceptions and motives of Dutch farmers to contribute to circular agriculture (CA)
It is shown that circularity is perceived in different ways as well as put into practice differently
Summary
It has often been shown that new concepts are quickly encapsulated by established ways of thinking. Knows that it is a strategy of the normal science to try to defuse alternative theories that are (possibly) threatening the prevailing paradigm by assimilating them Modern examples of this phenomenon are the way in which the interpretation of social innovation has been reshaped in Brussels’ policy circles [10], how sustainability has been transformed into green growth [11], or how SDG 12 is framed in terms of efficiency [12]. An alternative interpretation of CE does not concentrate merely on production processes and their accompanying economic principles fuelling business management logic and views on corporate responsibility, and includes patterns of over-consumption and their underlying norms and values on worthy lifestyles and “the good life”. The example of Kirchherr and colleagues [8] to include consumption in their above-cited CE definition is notable
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