The interview round focused on the analysis of the first three steps of the initiating phase as presented in the theoretical framework: clarify reasons, initial situation analysis, and mobilization of champions. The attitude of the stakeholder towards a MSP in general was also included by asking for preference for the option to design a MSP or to develop contracts based on the existing horizontal agreements.
The shared objective of the BSF initiative mentioned during the interviews is well aligned among the different stakeholders. The objective can be defined as a long-term program of 4 or 5 years for stabilization of prices and stabilization of the market. Stabilization is seen as a win-win situation for both farmers and manufacturers. First, the farmers will face less volatile prices in the market and engaging in the rotation system ensures outlet to the crops that they produce. For the industry, it involves an increase in quality and sustainability—such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)—standards.
There are more benefits of the rotation system pointed out by the stakeholders. First, production becomes more efficient. Better quality and fertility of the soil require less input leading to lower production costs and improved quality of the products, and therefore an increase in competitiveness. Moreover, less volatility in the market reduces the economic risks for both the farmers and the manufacturers. This win-win situation only provides security for long-term production, because it provides on the one hand a stable income and on the other hand a stable supply. Stabilization means a change of the total free market system, but aims to find a right compromise in between a free market and a protected market. Moreover, conflicting interest can cause problems because the stakeholders that are involved in this collaboration are indirect competitors. Even negotiation of prices in a contract with multiple stakeholders is a conflict of interest per definition. Quality, quantity, timing, and price must all be negotiated.
The existing relationships between the different stakeholders can be described as follows. First, Barilla is in the centre of the collaboration. Barilla has strong ties with Casalasco and Co.Pro.B. since they are already existing suppliers of Barilla, and is only starting a relationship with Cereal Docks in this rotation initiative. However, between Casalasco, Co.Pro.B., and Cereal Docks, there are no current or existing linkages.
Barilla can thus be seen as the institutional entrepreneur, thus an agent who mobilize own resources to create institutions (Pacheco et al. 2010), that facilitates and takes the lead in changing the institutional environment.
The involvement of the public party that is foreseen by the four partners is first for providing funding and support. Furthermore, the local administration will guarantee that all parties respect the contract, as this will be legally binding. Inter-organizational collaboration in a MSP involves maximization of resources and expertise. All four companies have knowledge and experience in crop rotation, and existing relationships with universities and agronomists make a good understanding of agronomic practices of rotation. Indeed, the involvement of research institutes and local public authorities in the partnership contributes to the creation of a learning network, and the legitimacy of the initiative can help to facilitate the adoption of changing practices through support and embedding within existing regulatory frameworks. To this regard, it is important to note that in all the regions where the four companies provide their raw materials, rural development programs defines agro-climate-environmental measures (measure 10) where crop rotation schemes are included as a mandatory requirement of integrated pest management schemes. In this case, the farmers can voluntary apply to these pluriannual schemes and receive per hectare subsides by the CAP second pillar budget.
The win-win process is then guaranteed. First, the farmers will face less volatile prices in the market and engaging in the rotation system ensures outlet to the crops that they produce, as well as comply with public subsided schemes. For the industry, it involves an increase in quality and sustainability—such as Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)—standards. There is an increased demand from large clients such as processors, wholesalers, and retailers for GAP manners and sustainability practices in agricultural production. Alignment of the objectives between the stakeholders is a strength of this collaboration.
The tool to reach the objective is to design contracts for the farmers. At the moment, the four partners share horizontal agreements, thus a ‘mutual interest in supporting specific activities’. However, the existing horizontal agreement is not binding and entails that the four stakeholders Barilla, Casalasco, Co.Pro.B., and Cereal Docks have their own program in sustainable production. To integrate and align these different programs into a crop rotation system is going to be the challenge. To do so, the horizontal agreement is not sufficient and it is needed to establish a contract, which is explained as ‘something that obliges you to respect the conditions’. A contract is more specific and includes that a certain amount of a crop will be purchased by the organization and, on the other side, that the farmer commits himself to produce a certain amount.
Thus, the key is to base the Sustainable Farming Initiative on a two-level approach: the protocol level, which defines the agreement among the industrial partnership, and the contract level that defines the terms to be respected between suppliers and purchasers.
In order to define a general protocol, which defines the terms of the agreement, we firstly examined the different cultural practices, production regulations, and monitoring and control systems already implemented by the four partners. The analysis has permitted the identification of the actual grade of compatibility between the single systems and the consequent draft of the general aspects to be included in the protocol. These are the commitments to the conversion of rotation practices, a common disciplinary of production, coordination of procurement, information sharing and communication, and coordination of the stakeholders involved in the different locations at a horizontal level. The protocol has been then sharped through a series of meetings, interviews, and exchange of information and with the industrial partners involved.
Based on the general aspects specified in the protocol, a series of supply contracts to be submitted to the evaluation of farmers participating in the project has been shaped. The elements of the contracts, which aims at engaging farmers in implanting crop rotations, are price, quantity, amount of land, number of years, options, and locations. However, it is not possible to design a single standard contract to offer to the farmers to determine how the output is shared for multiple locations. The specific contract terms must be therefore defined, within the general protocol, but in accordance with the specific rotations and locations. The submission of a set of potential contracts to a sample of farmers potentially interested in experiencing the contract and the introduction of the rotation is the objective of the third phase of the project.
In this path, considering the greening crop diversification commitments and CAP reform (European Commission 2018), where crop rotation is proposed to be linked to the direct payments, MSP could be useful to increase farmers capabilities to accomplish the new CAP regulatory framework and connect direct payments distributions. The member states will probably account in the climate and environmental eco-schemes (Art. 18, COM (2018)392) and more ambitious environmental practices, as well as crop rotation that include nitrogen fixer crops or green manure crops in arable land management. At the same time, further contracts will be used to improve data collection about suitable crop rotation implementation, supporting public monitoring activities and CAP impact evaluations.