Eurograd message

                Building Inclusive Agricultural Value Chains
<br>
<br>Call for Papers for an Online Seminar Series in October 2020
<br>
<br>Deadline extended
<br>
<br>We invite researchers to submit an extended abstract of a paper to be
<br>presented at an online event on building inclusive agricultural value chains,
<br>to be held in October 2020. We welcome contributions from all relevant
<br>disciplines, including but not limited to innovation science, science and
<br>technology studies, development studies, economics and philosophy. We
<br>understand agricultural value chains to include chains leading to food
<br>products, clothing, energy, and biobased applications.
<br>
<br>Dates and workshop modus Due to the limitations imposed by the COVID-19
<br>crisis, we have decided to opt for an online event rather than the 2-day
<br>workshop that we initially planned to organize at Delft University of
<br>Technology. The online event will take the shape of a seminar series in
<br>October 2020 with four sessions at the following dates and times:
<br>
<br> Tuesday 6 October 2020, 18.0022.00 CET (12.0016.00 New York time,
<br>9.0013.00 LA time)
<br> Tuesday 13 October 2020, 18.0022.00 CET (12.0016.00 New York time,
<br>9.0013.00 LA time)
<br> Tuesday 20 October 2020, 18.0022.00 CET (12.0016.00 New York time,
<br>9.0013.00 LA time)
<br> Tuesday 27 October 2020, 18.00-22.00 CET (13.00-17.00 New York time,
<br>10.00-14.00 LA time)
<br>
<br>The first three sessions will consist of a keynote speaker and subsequent
<br>academic paper presentations, the last session is a public event.
<br>
<br>About the topic Inclusive agricultural value chains hold the promise of
<br>improving the livelihoods of farmers, while offering commercial actors a
<br>reliable supply of high-quality raw materials and products. Such value chains
<br>can provide farmers with economic opportunities and resources, while offering
<br>commercial actors a chance to shape relevant agricultural practices. Including
<br>local stakeholders in the set-up or design of agricultural value chains 
<br>taking into account their needs, values, wishes and knowledge  can be a way
<br>to deal with uncertainties about sustainability (Pretty, 1995, Rist et al,
<br>2007). Approaches to creating sustainable agriculture that focus mainly on
<br>technological aspects while neglecting local stakeholders are often
<br>unsuccessful from a business perspective (Hounkonnou et al, 2012). Such a lack
<br>of inclusion has already negatively affected many sustainable agricultural
<br>value chains (Ibid., De Hoop et al, 2016, Balkema & Pols, 2015). Inclusion of
<br>local stakeholders can be a promising basis for robustness and commercial
<br>success (Devaux et al, 2016, Harper et al, 2015). Local producers often have
<br>valuable knowledge about land management, their natural environment, and the
<br>associated biomass. This knowledge is indispensable for the sustainable supply
<br>of agricultural produce and reducing economic inequalities (IPCC, 2019). When
<br>taking not just local producers but
<br>also a wider range of local actors into account, inclusion may enhance
<br>distributive justice. Including local agricultural producers can thus be
<br>expected to have both epistemic and moral benefits (Wals, 2007).
<br>
<br>However, there are many uncertainties about how to organise inclusive
<br>agricultural value chains (Devaux et al, 2017; Kamali et al, 2018), especially
<br>because such value chains usually have a global set-up, while the production
<br>of agricultural commodities takes place in widely diverging contexts
<br>(Meckenstock et al, 2016). This makes it difficult to derive (scientific)
<br>generalizations of how to enhance sustainability and economic fairness in this
<br>type of value chains. Nevertheless, experiences and practices in contexts are
<br>important for understanding how agricultural value chains can be structured in
<br>such a way that inclusiveness of local stakeholders and business
<br>sustainability can beneficially go hand in hand.
<br>
<br>Questions to be addressed Specific topics regarding building inclusive
<br>agricultural value chains that we would like to see addressed include:
<br>
<br>1) Conceptualizing inclusion and distributive justice in agricultural value
<br>chains;
<br>2) Identifying levels of inclusion amongst local stakeholders and strategies
<br>for increasing inclusion;
<br>3) Governance mechanisms to support inclusive agricultural value chains;
<br>4) The role of certification in building inclusive value chains;
<br>5) Responsibilities of various actors along the value chain to achieve
<br>inclusion;
<br>6) The impact of specific technological innovations on the set-up of inclusive
<br>value chains;
<br>7) The role of local institutions and culture in the set-up of inclusive value
<br>chains;
<br>8) Ways to take the capabilities of various actors into account;
<br>9) The relationship between inclusion and the security of supply throughout
<br>the chain;
<br>10) The contribution of inclusion to business strategies and commercial
<br>interests;
<br>11) How can inclusive value chains contribute to community resilience in the
<br>face of global, catastrophic events?
<br>
<br>Other research questions and topics that fit the general theme are welcome as
<br>well.
<br>
<br>Keynote speakers
<br>Keynote speakers will be announced soon.
<br>
<br>Abstract submission
<br>
<br>People interested in contributing to the workshop are requested to submit an
<br>extended abstract of 1000 words at
<br>https://www.aanmelder.nl/inclusive-agricultural-value-chains/. The deadline
<br>for abstract submission is 1 July 2020. You will be notified before 22 July
<br>whether you are invited to participate in the workshop. Special issue On basis
<br>of a selection of the contributions to the workshop, we intend to compose a
<br>special issue for a suitable journal in the field (such as e.g. Agriculture
<br>and Human Values or Environmental and Agricultural Ethics). If your paper is
<br>selected to be part of this special issue, you will be invited before the end
<br>of October 2020 to submit your full paper (deadline still to be determined).
<br>
<br>Cost of participation
<br>The fee for academics to participate in this online seminar series will be
<br>40.
<br>
<br>Event organizers Event organizers are:
<br> Lotte Asveld (assistant professor at Delft University of Technology)  Eefje
<br>de Gelder (postdoctoral researcher at Delft University of Technology)  Zoe
<br>Robaey (assistant professor at Wageningen University)  Emiel Wubben
<br>(associate professor at Wageningen University) The online seminar series is
<br>the closing event of the research project project Inclusive Biobased
<br>Innovation: Securing sustainability and supply through farmers involvement
<br>(IBIS), which was funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific
<br>Research (NWO).
<br>_______________________________________________
<br>EASST's Eurograd mailing list
<br>Eurograd (at) lists.easst.net
<br>Unsubscribe or edit subscription options: http://lists.easst.net/listinfo.cgi/eurograd-easst.net
<br>
<br>Meet us via https://twitter.com/STSeasst
<br>
<br>Report abuses of this list to Eurograd-owner@lists.easst.net