In this section, we discuss the role of stakeholders in the policy-making process and ways in which stakeholders have been actively included in TP Organics, the European Technology Platform for organic farming.
The role of stakeholders in policy design
The growing popularity of stakeholder analysis reflects a greater recognition of the importance of stakeholders in decision-making processes (Brugha and Varvasovszky 2000). The Rome Declaration pointed out that ‘early and continuous engagement of stakeholders is essential for sustainable, desirable and acceptable innovation’ (European Union 2014). Stakeholder engagement is also crucial in various documents issued by the European Union, such as the implementation strategy for Horizon Europe (European Commission 2020).
Different definitions of stakeholders can be found in the literature. In this study, we follow (Hemmati 2002) and define stakeholders as “those who have an interest in a particular decision, either as individuals or representatives of a group. This includes people who influence a decision, or can influence it, and those affected by it.” In other words, those who can influence or may be influenced by a policy process can be considered stakeholders in that process. Actually, there are various degrees of stakeholder involvement in decision-making (Helbig et al. 2015). According to Noland and Phillips (2010), a mere interaction with stakeholders alone is no longer sufficient, and to emphasize this concept, they refer to the use of the term ‘engagement’ in stakeholder theory.
A multi-stakeholder process (MSP) can be defined as a process ‘which aims to bring together all major stakeholders in a new form of communication, decision-finding (and possibly decision-making) on a particular issue’ (Hemmati 2002).
In participatory approaches to multi-stakeholder processes, therefore, stakeholders are involved in a structured way to influence policy analysis and decision‐making (Helbig et al. 2015). Furthermore, Bijlsma et al. (2011) describe participatory policy development as the “influence of stakeholder involvement on the development of substance in policy development, notably the framing of the policy problem, the policy analysis and design, and the creation and use of knowledge”.
As far as the role of stakeholder involvement in organic food and farming is concerned, a recommendation report developed in the context of the EU-funded project ORGAP[1] concluded that to ensure the legitimacy of a European Organic Action Plan and its successful implementation, “the views, advice and support of the different stakeholder groups are essential in all five relevant development stages of the plan: the design (agenda setting), policy formulation, decision, practical implementation and evaluation” (Schmid et al. 2008b). In the Organic Action Plan resource manual Schmid, Dabbert, et al. (2008) emphasise the importance of identifying relevant stakeholders in ascertaining development needs and policy objectives for the sector. However, effective stakeholder involvement in organic action plan development is not without its problems. Michelsen, Eichert and Schmid (2009) conclude that in some situations, “involvement of a broad range of stakeholders in any part of the policy process does not appear to be an effective and pragmatic solution to the EU’s problems of legitimacy and efficiency” and can introduce additional problems. Schmid, Dabbert, et al. (2008) argue that effective stakeholder involvement needs “good preparation, sufficient time and suitable methods”. Based on the experience of developing an organic research agenda in Sweden, Wivstad et al. (2014) stated that an open and transparent process promotes the credibility of the agenda for policy makers and research funders as well as for agricultural stakeholders. “The including approach, engaging stakeholders in the food chain as well as the research parties, gives potential to bridging gaps between science and practice”(Wivstad et al. 2014).
Stakeholder involvement in policymaking for organic farming: Technology Platform Organics
European Technology Platforms (ETPs) were introduced in 2003 as part of the European Commission’s Innovation Union initiative and play a key role in highlighting where to place the focus of research and innovation funding. The rationale behind ETPs is to facilitate a coherent and less fragmented approach to setting the research and innovation agenda by bringing together multidisciplinary research expertise and knowledge skills in a specific technological field[2]. There are currently around 40 ETPs covering a diverse spectrum of activity, from nanomedicine and robotics to biofuels and forestry.
TP Organics serves as the link between relevant stakeholders in the organic sector and the European Commission. Established in 2008, TP Organics is the ETP for organic food and farming, bringing together a broad cross-section of actors (i.e., large companies, small & medium enterprises, researchers, farmers, consumers and civil society organisations) in the organic value chain. ITP Organics provides a formal channel through which stakeholders can feed into the policymaking process and acts as a focal point for a dialogue with the European Commission (the Directorate-General of Research and Innovation – DG RTD), more specifically to contribute to policy decisions and determine research priorities and funding.
TP Organics is a growing bottom-up initiative, and its members include:
- Umbrella organisations and international networks: transnational networks from sectors such as organic farming, processing, trade, as well as organic certification, etc.
- Enterprise members: especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
- National Members: national organisations with a special interest in research & innovation
- National Technology Platforms-NTPs: mirror platforms of TP Organics at national level. They help increase the participation of farmers and SMEs in TP Organics and allow TP Organics to better reach practitioners and end-users of research.
In July 2013, TP Organics was formally recognised by the European Commission as a European Technology Platform. Official recognition of its status as an ETP has allowed the platform to become a key player in discussions at European level and to fulfill its role ‘as part of the external advice and societal engagement needed to implement Horizon 2020’ (European Commission 2013).
The most relevant outcomes of TP Organics activity can be summarised as follows (Figure 1):
- The first relevant document issued by TP Organics in 2008 is the Vision for Organic Food and Farming research Agenda to 2025 (Niggli et al. 2008). As a first step, the ‘Vision for an Organic Food and Farming Research Agenda to 2025’ was developed to form the basis of all TP Organics activities. It emerged from an extensive discussion and consultation process that started in 2007 led by ISOFAR and IFOAM EU and supported by 13 European NGOs, 5 Foundations and the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture [3].
- The Strategic Research Agenda - SRA (Schmid et al. 2009) was subsequently published in 2009 along with an Implementation Action Plan (Padel et al. 2010) in 2010, showcasing the research priorities of the organic sector for the EU’s 7th Research and Development Framework Programme (FP7).
- The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for organic food and farming (SRIA) published in 2014 (Moeskops and Cuoco 2014) was produced in order to revise the SRA in accordance with the new EU framework for research and innovation, Horizon 2020 (FP8), the replacement for FP7
- The new Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Organics and Agroecology – SRIAII – was published in 2019 (Barabanova and Moeskops 2019) and considers new research priorities in the field of organics. The SRIA II shows concrete research areas and priorities that need proper support at EU level, in particular through Horizon Europe.
Since its inception, TP Organics has been implementing systematic approaches to involve stakeholders in the definition of research and innovation strategies, as well as taking action to influence EU Research and Innovation policies.
Advocacy is a core part of the role of TP Organics in the EU’s organic agriculture movement. To fulfil this, TP Organics has developed professional lobbying strategies. According to internal documents, TP Organics defines lobbying as actions in which stakeholders are consulted, information is collected, alliances are established, and proposals (‘input papers’) are developed with the final aim of having an impact on EU research and innovation policies.
The most visible outcome of stakeholder involvement in TP Organics can be seen in their role in the the definition of official documents containing the strategic agenda for the organic sector. More than 300 stakeholders are normally involved in TP Organics workshops for strategy definition, covering a large variety of interest groups.
The participation of stakeholders follows a rigorous procedure (Moeskops and Cuoco 2014) (Schmid et al. 2009) that includes the following steps :
- exploratory discussion
- engagement and involvement of additional stakeholders (not already included in TP Organics)
- drafting of main goals and future challenges for research and innovation in organic farming
- public consultation of main draft outcomes
- revising and publication of a final document on research strategies for organic farming.
Stakeholder involvement usually requires subsequent consultations scheduled over different months: for example, the first SRIA (2014) was obtained over three consultations scheduled in a participatory process lasting 18 months, from June 2013 to December 2014.
[1] ORGAP: European Action Plan for organic food and farming - Development of criteria and evaluation procedures for the evaluation of the EU Action Plan for Organic Agriculture
[2] Stakeholders’ common goal is to define a Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) which they share in the medium to long term. Based on a so-called common R&D “vision” in a specific sector, the Agenda is agreed by industry and research stakeholders who are investing huge human and financial resources. ETPs’ activities are aimed at defining and developing action plans where research priorities strategic to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation are submitted to the European Commission.
[3] The development of the ‘vision’ was informed by a participatory approach to research and knowledge transfer. It emphasises the value of both scientific and non-scientific knowledge and recognises that all stakeholders have expertise to contribute to the generation and dissemination of knowledge and know-how. The consultation process was designed to access a broad spectrum of contributors including producers, organic market actors, the scientific community as well as civil society. This resulted in a dynamic, iterative process that evolved in stages over a period of 14 months. The process began with the ‘Vision Camp’, comprising key players in the organic sector which met in June 2007. The process culminated with the publication of the Vision document in July 2008.