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Innovation policy for circular agriculture can benefit from the ideas and involvement of 'challengers'—people and groups who are willing to question and rethink existing way of working. However, it's not enough to just invite anyone to participate in shaping strategies and starting projects. Challengers need to be actively engaged, or they risk losing interest and withdrawing from the process. co-authored by Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��’s Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development.

Achieving missions—ambitious goals around urgent yet complex societal challenges— usually requires a delicate balance of existing and new knowledge, skills, networks and policies. In the case of the Dutch mission to achieve circular agrifood systems, experts in regenerative and nature inclusive farming were invited to help develop strategies and visions. However, many of them ended up stepping away from the process.

The just-published study in Science and Public Policy found no signs of intentional exclusion by established players; rather, the challengers felt overlooked and not fully supported in contributing their ideas. For instance, many felt that while available policy instruments primarily offered financial support for innovation projects, they were more interested in gaining visibility and recognition for the circular practices they were already experimenting with.

Traditional approaches still dominate

The researchers explain that traditional approaches to agricultural innovation (policy) seep into the mission policy, and still influence which projects are pursued. "The challengers saw the new mission as an opportunity to give their approaches momentum, but they didn’t receive the special attention or support they expected,” they say. “While the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and others wanted to keep the process open to many ideas, this broad inclusiveness seems paradoxically to have deterred challengers."

A stronger focus on engaging challengers

An important lesson is that the mission and its related policies should place a stronger focus on engaging challengers. However, caution is required. "There is often talk of scrapping existing policies and starting fresh to accommodate those who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo," says Utrecht ľ�ϸ���Ӱ��'s Matthijs Janssen. " While there’s some truth to this, it’s also clear that we shouldn’t abandon all practices and policies that may still be relevant for achieving large-scale change. Our study explores the balance between moving forward quickly and efficiently with existing systems, versus taking the time to give new ideas and initiatives a real chance."

The study was led by Laurens Klerkx from Wageningen ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� & Research and is part of the NWO-funded research project “REWIRE - Leveraging new collaborations for circular agriculture missions”. More information on the project is available .