Institutional innovations supporting local markets for sustainable agriculture
Résumé
As Agroecology emerges on national and global agendas, there is a need to understand the institutional
changes that are accompanying public, private and civil society efforts to create agroecology-based food
systems. Institutional innovations are new rules and forms of interaction. They help redefine sustainable
practices for the local level and bring together food systems actors that have not traditionally worked
together. Since 2013 INRA and FAO have been carrying out participatory action research study on
innovations that link sustainable practices with markets. Carried out in collaboration with innovators in 14
countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America, we analyzed how the reorganization of relationships
between actors in local food systems and the local revision of rules for sustainable agriculture have been
able to incentivize not only the adoption of sustainable practices by farmers, but also the creation of local
markets for sustainably produced products in developing countries. These innovations are classified into
three types: participatory guarantee systems – innovations in certification; multi-actor innovation
platforms – innovations in knowledge creation; and community-supported agriculture – innovations in
community investment. Each innovation kicks off processes of change in a local food system by
mobilizing knowledge, resources, legitimacy, entrepreneurial skills and strategy, and creating spaces for
exchange in different ways. Throughout years of continuous experimentation with aspects of these local
systems – and by shifting roles and responsibilities between actors in the systems – these innovators have
gained significant ground in creating new rules for sustainable production and consumption of food
around the world. Among numerous insights gain through this process, there are four key take home
messages: 1) A wide range of actors in developing countries are inventing new forms of interaction and
organization (called institutional innovations) to supply local markets with sustainable agricultural
products; 2) Social and institutional innovations are as essential as technological innovations in transitions
to sustainable food systems, and they require policy support; 3) Even when innovations are led by private
actors, partnerships with public actors and civil society have an important role in creating linkages
between farmers and markets; 4) Autonomy, reciprocity and the recognition of the diverse types of
knowledge that are fostered through institutional innovations all create incentives for the adoption of
sustainable practices.