This Special Issue showcases findings from the SURE-Farm research project which aims to assess the resilience and sustainability of farming systems in Europe. The call for greater resilience responds to the accumulating economic, environmental, institutional and social challenges facing Europe's agriculture. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, the need for enhanced re-silience has become an overarching guiding principle of EU policymaking. But what exactly is resilience and how can it be enhanced? How can farming systems prepare for different and often simultaneous types of shocks and stresses, for unexpected and even unknown events? The articles in this Special Issue distinguish three resilience capacities: for some shocks and systems robustness (‘bouncing back’) is adequate, but other circumstances require adaptability and transformability (anticipation, quick learning and change). Putting these capacities central, each article addresses key questions such as: whether current capacities match the resilience needs; which characteristics of a system can enhance resilience; how an enabling environment affects resilience; whether current governance systems constrain resilience; and which actors can actually influence and build resilience capacities. Promisingly, the contributions identify various pathways to enhance resilience. However, many of our suggestions require substantial change compared to current practices and policies. Meuwissen et al. conclude that resilience strategies tend to focus on the farm level, while farming systems include many other actors that also need to actively engage. Reidsma et al. find that resilience strategies in the past were often geared too much towards increasing the profitability of farming systems, and tended to neglect the coupling of agricultural production with local institutions, natural resources, and a facilitating infrastructure for innovation. Spiegel et al. demonstrate the importance of learning as part of resilience-enhancing strategies. Several articles derive specific recommendations to change public policies towards resilience – probably resonating with farmers’ perception that current policies are inadequate (Nicolas-Davies et al.). Buitenhuis et al. recommend policies that could contribute to a better balance between support for robustness, adaptability and transformability of Europe's farming systems. In the ‘Point de Vue’ article Mathijs and Wauters argue similarly that public policies play key roles in determining the resilience of farming systems and should invest more in foresight and resilience structures. Current policies towards addressing the ‘young farmer problem’ are considered to be inadequate. Coopmans et al. propose that more attention is devoted to the stages preceding farm take-over, during which possible entrants develop a ‘successor identity’. On a similar theme, Pitson et al. call for greater focus on increasing the human capital base of the agricultural sector through training, trans-sectoral and trans-regional mobility – including the provision of adequate infrastructure in rural areas to attract a young skilled labour force. The importance of attracting ‘young potential’ is visualised by Slijper in the Parlons Graphiques which illustrates the predominance of negative net migration rates from rural areas in Europe. Vroege et al. stress that the policy environment should more fully enable agricultural insurance innovations to underpin risk management in a rapidly changing global environment. If all of the above issues are capable of being addressed, can resilience of agricultural systems really be enhanced? Or will the prevailing governance systems facilitate unsustainable exploitation of socio-economic and ecological systems that fundamentally undermine their resilience? There are reasons for optimism. Firstly, our research found much spirit for change – and calls for more long-term vision and courage (see for example ‘frequent question’ Q4, Meuwissen et al.). Secondly, the systematic analysis of the multiple components contributing to resilience has enabled us to develop a better understanding of processes of change in agri-food systems, the need to develop greater resilience in Europe's farming systems and the priority areas to be addressed. We record our thanks for the comments of external reviewers of all articles in this Special Issue and to the editorial team for their expert guidance and recommendations. We wish you an inspiring read. The ‘Science talks’ video about this special issue is available at: www.wur.nl/en/project/Resilient-Farming-Systems.html. “Resilience is more than robustness; learning and change are essential.” “La résilience est davantage que la robustesse; l'apprentissage et le changement sont essentiels.” “Resilienz bedeutet mehr als nur Stabilität, denn Lernen und Veränderung sind in diesem Zusammenhang von wesentlicher Bedeutung.” This research was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The content of this issue does not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Responsibility for the information and views expressed herein lies entirely with the authors. Miranda Meuwissen Peter H. Feindt
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Dec 18, 2020
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