Trust and Legitimacy in Agricultural Policy Reform: A Historical Policy Analysis of Agricultural Policy, Trust and Legitimacy in the Netherlands.

This paper focuses on the relationship between agricultural policy change and farmers’ trust and the perceived legitimacy of Dutch agricultural policies while using Dutch arable leek farming as a case study. Much of the existing agri-food literature analyses changes in the sector from institutional, policy-making, or actor-focused perspectives of which the post-exceptionalism literature has been the latest addition. In this paper we illustrate that an additional analysis of trust, risk, and legitimacy is needed to better understand the current societal position farmers find themselves in, how they are coping with the insecurities they face while transitioning towards more sustainable production, and how governments can improve their policies, taking into account these farmers’ positions. With our main research question being: “What are the past policies influencing the current lack of trust of Dutch arable leek farmers to switch to more biodiverse growing practices?” First, we reinterpret historic events in terms of growing distrust and suspicion of government policies caused by a two-fold development. On the one hand, we observe that a history of frequent incremental policy shifts has fueled skepticism and discontent among agricultural stakeholders, leading to a lack of clarity and consistency. On the other hand, a complete lack of long-term perspective from a political perspective has kept entrepreneurs in the agricultural sector feeling stagnant in their ability to make (durable) reforms. Examples of how skepticism and discontent manifest can be found in the increasing protests and the rise of a new farmers' party, both reflecting the growing dissatisfaction with government policies and a lack of trust in their long-term effectiveness. Second, we link past experiences with analysing a highly actual case study. We wondered, what is the direct effect of a history of suspicion and distrust on a transition process in a rather specific case? During this part of the research, we followed leek farmers and analysed how they struggle to overcome uncertainties and engage in more sustainable production methods. In particular, the case analyzes how the use of pesticides is increasingly banned mainly through EU regulation, which forces growers to seek and apply more biodiverse growing practices. In our research we used a combination of archival research and exploratory interviews, to uncover how past policies have influenced present-day attitudes and willingness to adopt sustainable practices. The exploratory interviews with growers led the research in a relevant direction, incorporating non-academic voices and exploring the use of more transdisciplinary methods merged with existing methods for historical policy research. The close collaboration with the farmers in setting up the research and conducting the actual research together has led to unique insights for policy studies.