Employment of more environmentally friendly practices in conventional agriculture | “What if the intensity of agricultural production is leveled out?” (reducing farming intensity on high quality farm land while intensifying cultivation on low quality farm land at risk of becoming overgrown) | Environmental values and long-term productivity are promoted. | | How to determine and achieve optimal land-use and farming practices? What would be the net-effect on biomass availability? |
“What if financial instruments, such as environmental taxes, are used to a larger extent?” | Extracting and using fossil-based, finite resources would become relatively more expensive, promoting the employment of more environmentally friendly production practices. | The implementation, or prospect of implementing, such financial instruments could be perceived as a threat by some actors in the economy. If these interventions are linked to efforts to promote the bio-based economy, it could make the concept politically sensitive, reducing the ability to create a shared understanding of its objectives, and thereby hindering a broader transition to a bio-based economy. | How to “get the prices right” while simultaneously ensuring that the bio-based economy is perceived as an opportunity for a broad group of actors, also those currently not directly linked to bio-based sectors of the economy? |
Biomass availability (total biomass supply for non-food applications, domestic food production) | “What if infrastructure is developed, allowing better transport and handling of harvest residues from the agricultural sector?” | Harvest residues would be utilized as an input to the bio-based economy to a larger extent. Resource use efficiency would increase, while pressure on other sources of biomass would be reduced. | Nutrient loss due to the removal of harvest residues and litter from agricultural land. | How can circularity be achieved, specifically in terms of nutrient recycling? How to solve the perceived match-making problem, where primary producers have biomass they cannot sell while industrial biomass demand is not fulfilled? |
“What if national plant breeding programs are further expanded?” | The resistance of plants to local stress, as well as the variability in chemical composition and plant characteristics, would increase. The demand for novel crops would grow, with a consequent increase in the number of farmers targeting new markets. | More land allocated to the production of non-food crops could make the perceived legitimacy of the agricultural sector decrease, lowering the overall ability to facilitate a transition to a bio-based economy. | What pathways make biomass demand and supply increase or decrease, and what are the consequences in terms of ability to meet biomass demand? Demand for novel crops is suggested to make the number of farmers allocating land to crop production for non-food purposes increase. What actors could take lead in this development, those currently active in the agricultural sector or completely new actors? |
Shift to regenerative production | “What if plant breeding programs for diversified production systems were implemented?” | The ability of diversified production systems to provide edible yields grows. | | What are the design principles that would allow these systems to function optimally? How much food are these systems able to provide in a Nordic context? How do consumption patterns need to change to allow production to meet demand? |
“What if the knowledge base on plant interactions was expanded?” | Competition between species in diversified systems would be reduced, and productivity would thereby increase. | | |
“What if education and compensation schemes to ensure that farmers can participate in transdisciplinary research programs were employed?” | The interest and ability of farmers to engage in transdisciplinary research would increase, contributing to both theoretical and practical knowledge supporting diversified farming. | | How to ensure that the potential of the ideas generated in these research programs is leveraged? How to ensure that transdisciplinary research programs are supported in an academic setting? |
“What if technology for diversified production systems was developed?” | Diversified production systems would become more efficient, leveraging the potential of technology to complement manual labor, and harvests would increase. | | Whom should take the lead in this development? What will be the net effect on the labor market? |
“What if taxation of labor was reduced, as part of a green tax shift?” | The relative profitability of the labor-intensive practices in diversified farming would increase, thereby strengthening the attractiveness of diversified farming. | With an increase in regenerative production, the demand for labor with practical skills would grow, increasing the labor gap. Unless measures are taken, this would limit a further expansion of regenerative production. | What are potential effects on the labor market and larger economy of reducing the tax burden on labor? |
“What if school programs were used as platforms for social change?” | Public procurement would support the expansion of diversified farming, through creating broader awareness. | | What are suitable diets for a bio-based economy? What attitudinal changes are needed to support this change? How to implement these programs in a way so that they can be sustained over longer time periods? |
“What if successful examples of diversified farming practices were communicated?” | The attractiveness of diversified farming would grow, making more farmers transition and the regenerative production increase. | As regenerative production increases, also an expansion beyond local markets might take place. This could entail larger competition and risk, and unless complementary measures are taken, a larger failure rate. | |