The key issues that this volume addresses are innovations in organizational and institutional arrangements that have enabled the creation of local markets for sustainably farmed agricultural products or, rather, “institutional innovations”. Institutional innovations can be described as new rules and forms of interactions. They help redefine sustainable practices locally and bring together actors in food systems who have not traditionally worked together. We claim that innovations in the field of institutions are as important as technological or agronomic innovations to support transitions towards sustainable agriculture, and that both types of innovations are closely interrelated. We focus on innovations, particularly small-scale local niche experiments, because these innovations can provide insights into the new ideas that are circulating outside the mainstream policy and market circles and might become new norms in the future. By looking at what is working in a variety of contexts, we understand how new institutional arrangements emerge and incentivize changes in practices.

This book presents 15 cases from Africa, Asia, the Near East and Latin America, mostly written by stakeholders directly engaged in implementing or supporting local initiatives. Each chapter outlines the institutional arrangements that support the featured innovation; the sustainable agricultural practices that are used; the market channels where products are sold; a description of the institutional innovation, including how it is governed and how the use of sustainable practices are ensured; and the results in terms of changes in practices. In the introduction, we present the theoretical background and study methodology that enables us to understand the drivers and mechanisms for institutional innovations in linking sustainable agricultural practices with markets. The meta analysis presented in the concluding chapter explores why and how these innovations encourage the local adaptation (and use) of sustainable practices.

The purpose of this volume is to provide FAO member countries with insights into institutional change and how a different type of market incentive contributes to the redefinition and adoption of sustainable practices by farmers. It contributes to FAO’s normative work on sustainable agrifood chains and voluntary standards by providing an institutional analysis of innovation systems. This analysis focuses our attention on the important organizational work of local-level actors in setting up networks that link research, technology development, education, community development, certification, price committees and seed networks together while creating local markets for sustainably farmed products.