Assembling novel spaces for food systems transformations (ASSEMBLE)

ASSEMBLE seeks to break down barriers between research, policy and farming practices by fostering innovative spaces for novelty and resonance among diverse groups.

With a focus on dairy farming, the project aims to understand the conditions for enabling novel responses to change (resilience) and how this understanding can enhance farming resilience amidst rapidly changing regulatory environments.

Recognizing the challenges posed by climate change and loss of biological and cultural diversity in Europe’s iconic grasslands, ASSEMBLE addresses the need for transformative solutions in European agriculture.

By examining the adoption of on-farm Biodiversity Areas under the EU Green New Deal, the project aims to tackle three interrelated problems: farmer resistance to policy changes, policy backtracking on environmental goals, and siloed research paradigms where researchers are separate to the world they seek to understand.

ASSEMBLE draws on New Materialist theory as a means to translate theoretical recognition of more relational ways of knowing and being into actionable science, exploring how spaces for novel responses to change are enabled or constrained.

In the project, assemblage theory guides the formation of collaborative networks to co-produce knowledge and deepen dialogue between different actor groups in case studies in Austria and Sweden. ASSEMBLE strives to empower farmers, policymakers, and researchers to co-create sustainable agricultural futures.