‘Shift happens’: Co-constructing transition pathways towards the regional sustainability of agriculture in Europe

Abstract

Farming systems have to face challenges that originate in changes of global dimension in both the bio-physical and the societal sphere, such as Climate change (leading to increasing weather uncertainty and raising average temperatures, thus impacting agro-ecosystems and water supplies); Food safety concerns (spreading in Europe while in other regions food security remains a challenge) and Changing consumption patterns and unequal purchasing power (contributing to the unsustainable use of natural resources in many countries). These changes have manifold implications and raise many questions with regard to agricultural land use.