MSc thesis Laura Perez Silva: Catalysing transformative change: identifying leverage points for a sustainable EU agriculture

You are hereby invited to the MSc thesis presentation by Laura Perez Silva on ‘Catalysing transformative change: identifying leverage points for a sustainable EU agriculture’.

Supervisor: Anke Brons
Examinor: Jeroen Candel

Date: 3 April 2024
Time: 14.30-15.30 hours CET
Online only: Click here to join the MS Teams meeting

Title: Catalysing transformative change: identifying leverage points for a sustainable EU agriculture

Abstract
As the world's leading importer and exporter of agri-food products, the European Union (EU) plays a key role in transforming global food production and diets sustainably. Addressing the urgent need for change in the EU's food system requires informing EU food governance approaches on leverage points, which are pivotal areas capable of inducing system-wide effects. This thesis identifies leverage points that can improve the sustainability of the EU’s agriculture, indicating where interventions should be prioritized at this first stage of the EU food system to catalyse transformative change. Through a literature review, factors contributing to the growth or decline of evolving trends in EU agriculture were identified and mapped. These trend maps were validated through semi-structured interviews. Utilizing social network analysis on the evolving trend maps, I identified factors which are the biggest influencers of these trends. This analysis was complemented by qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews, validating the maps and allowing experts to pinpoint leverage points. The findings offer a list of 12 factors ranging from different dimensions that could potentially serve as leverage points. These leverage points cannot be approached as ingredients of a recipe to cook sustainable EU agriculture. Instead, interventions at these leverage points should be in the light of adaptive governance, which is well suited to managing the complexity and unpredictability of EU agriculture. Subsequent research should delve deeper into identifying key actors who can intervene in these points and assess which are the most suitable levers to influence them to bring about sustainability.

Keywords
EU agriculture, leverage points, systems thinking, sustainability, transformative change and adaptive governance