Unpacking the Local Politics of Agri-Food Innovation: Vision and Network Development in a Pilot Project for Controlled-Environment Agriculture in Eastern Germany

Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) is an umbrella term for indoor food production systems that promise enormous gains in resource efficiency, food quality, and food system resilience through the control of the production environment. CEA technologies could emerge as an important pathway in the transition towards more sustainable food systems, but upscaling requires the innovation is successfully embedded in regional value networks. To further advance CEA system circularity and resource efficiency, intensive indoor food production should be linked to renewable energy sources. Such a combination of technologies requires the coordination and collaboration of a wide range of stakeholders with possibly disparate aims and interests. The necessary coordination is unlikely to occur naturally and typically needs intentional policy intervention. Generating a shared vision is essential to mobilize and maintain political support and stakeholder involvement. This paper analyses the processes of vision generation and network management in a proposed CEA pilot project of in rural eastern Germany. The unfolding project attempts to implement the combined production of plants, fish, and insects in a circular CEA system at the site of a renewable energy park. The regional context is characterized by a lack of economic opportunities and problematic demographic change, which translates into high levels of support for an extreme right-wing party that is hostile to sustainability science and research into new food systems. In contrast, the regional project promotors have strong links to the incumbent conservative party. The project requires approval by local city councils and support from local and regional development agencies. It also depends on investments in public infrastructure. Developing an inclusive vision is therefore essential for successful project implementation. The case has broader relevance for food system transformation since the CEA technology is the result of a nationally-funded flagship program for “agricultural systems of the future,” while resistance against novel food systems is widespread among farmers and farm organizations in Germany. The paper addresses the research questions: What are the processes of vision generation and network management in the implementation of an innovative CEA technology in an economically-challenged rural area? How is CEA discursively constructed to resonate with local interests and expectations? Which actors become involved in discursive and networking activities? How do socio-spatial and socio-political contexts shape these dynamics? To address these questions, the research combines ethnographic observations and semi-structured interviews with stakeholders from research, policy and administration, venture capital investment, and the local community. Data are analyzed against a theoretical framework that combines innovation system analysis with the concept of socio-technical imaginaries. The latter concept enables a deeper exploration of how a technological innovation – in this case, CEA – is shaped by evolving stakeholder networks and local and regional political dynamics. Based on the insights from the case study, the paper will also discuss how the struggles of niche innovations reflect broader questions and challenges facing agri-food system transformation.