The use of social capital in Dutch farmers collectives: Strategic niche management and social capital as tool to support collectives in a transition towards nature inclusive agriculture
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2021-08-31
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en
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Abstract
The transition towards nature inclusive agriculture in The Netherlands challenges the existing agricultural practices and governance structures. A regime change is needed to transform the Dutch agricultural sector. In this transition, farmers collectives play a significant role. Collectives can build and share social capital. Social capital in turn, helps to build strong and effective collectives by creating common goals and platforms for sharing knowledge. This research investigates the use of social capital in collectives and illustrates the lessons learned. This research is based on a qualitative case study where semi-structured interviews were conducted to gain a better understanding of how farmers collectives build up and put into practice social capital. It is found that all bonding, bridging, and linking social capital are used in the collectives. The use of social capital can support the processes in strategic niche management, by bringing people together, align expectations of an innovation and adopt experimentation-based learning. As found, social capital holds the ability to incorporate these. Therefore, this case study shows the potential of the use of social capital in the development of nature inclusive farming as niche.
Keywords: social capital, Dutch farmers collectives, transition, collaboration, nature inclusive agriculture, strategic niche management
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen