The role of cooperation for sustainability innovations in the agriculture and food sector

The paper is based on the analysis of cooperation in two different German case studies: One case deals with the development of a sustained value chain for ethical poultry production while the other case aims at the combination of different niche innovations for cultural landscape conservation. The empirical analysis is based on the categories ‘goals of the innovation and motives of cooperation’, ‘actors and their resources’, ‘distribution of costs and benefits’, ‘cooperation structure and management’. It comprises guided interviews with central actors of the co-operative networks and participative observation as part of a transdisciplinary research process