This book focuses on understanding farm-level transitions in Europe. Using case studies from various countries in the EU it adopts a novel analytical approach based on transition management theory and discusses the importance of understanding transition pathways towards sustainability in European agriculture at a time of economic recession.

I: Contributors II: Glossary III: Acknowledgements 1: Introduction 2: Socio-technical transitions in farming: key concepts 3: Understanding the diversity of rural areas 4: Utilising the multi-level perspective in empirical field research:methodological considerations 5: Lifestyle farming: countryside consumption and transition towards new farming models 6: More than just a factor in transition processes? The role of collaboration in agriculture 7: High nature value farming: environmental practices for rural sustainability 8: Transition processes and natural resource management 9: On-farm renewable energy: a ‘classic case’ of technological transition 10: ‘The missing actor’: alternative agri-food networks and the resistance of key regime actors 11: Local quality and certification schemes as new forms of governance in sustainability transitions 12: Transdisciplinarity in deriving sustainability pathways for agriculture 13: Conceptual insights derived from case studies on ‘emerging transitions’ in farming 14: Conclusions