Is the New Zealand kiwifruit industry ready for the biopesticide revolution? A case study of actor engagement within an agricultural innovation system

Abstract

This study focuses on actor engagement (AE) within complex agricultural innovation systems (AIS). These systems support continued food security for the world’s burgeoning population. However, AIS are difficult to investigate empirically and research often lacks strategic and organisational relevance. Accordingly, this study uses AE theory to provide deeper theoretical explanations of how actors create, mobilise, and exchange resources at the microlevel of AIS, extending the notion of engagement to encompass the activities of all types of actors present in an innovation system. In doing so, it contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of AE, and how motives, valence, type of engagement, and level of engagement expected relate to actor disposition and the relational and temporal properties of engagement. This research adopts a case study method to investigate the network of actors involved in the transformation of pest and disease control practices in the New Zealand kiwifruit industry. The industry is facing significant pressure to decrease their usage of conventional pesticides due to new legislation, consumer demand for residue-free produce, and emerging pesticide resistance. Biopesticides offer an alternative solution: however, their uptake to date has been low. A shift towards the use of biopesticides would enable the industry to maintain their position as the world’s leading kiwifruit export brand and as New Zealand’s most valuable horticultural export crop. Using AE and AIS theory, this study identified an interplay of factors that are impeding and facilitating the shift towards biopesticides. Uptake was found to be hindered by industry-wide resistance to change, lack of legitimacy around biopesticides, and deeply ingrained norms around the use of conventional pesticides. However, the network showed an ability to reconfigure itself in response to problem-solving and value creation opportunities and to work collaboratively towards a common goal. Subsequently, this study highlights opportunities to facilitate an increase in the use of biopesticides, as well as areas to provide flexible support instruments to allow ongoing change in the network.