TY - JOUR

T1 - Sustainable value propositions of a new technology for targeted nitrogen regulation

AU - Nygaard, Kenneth

AU - Schaper, Stefan

AU - Jacobsen, Brian H.

AU - Hansen, Birgitte

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Nitrogen (N) provides the agriculture industry with a wicked problem: it is an essential nutrient for efficient crop production, but N losses from agricultural production can harm both the stability of the environment and the health of humans. To limit this, targeted N regulation at the ID15 (1500 ha) level is slowly becoming a reality for farmers and authorities in Denmark. This paper explores the formulation of value propositions connected to developed technologies and concepts for retention mapping at the field level for more detailed targeted regulation. We explore all this through a comprehensive longitudinal ethnographic case study over a period of three years. We use the value proposition canvas to make sense of the viewpoints of the involved stakeholder groups. Our empirical setting is a large-scale research project in Denmark, a country that has high environmental goals regarding nitrogen loading. The publicly funded project involved a multitude of stakeholders, ranging from industry consultants, regulators, farmers and researchers from several disciplines. Important for our study is the fact that much of Denmark's regulation is based on a consensus-driven approach. Thus, it provides a compelling setting for exploring the creation of value propositions through multisector stakeholder engagement. Our findings indicate that, while there is a general movement towards targeted N regulation due to an advancement of knowledge, the practical side of its implementation is less straightforward. Here, stakeholder-formulated value propositions can facilitate this process, not only being connected to the measurement technology, but also relying on a link to a regulatory transformation.

AB - Nitrogen (N) provides the agriculture industry with a wicked problem: it is an essential nutrient for efficient crop production, but N losses from agricultural production can harm both the stability of the environment and the health of humans. To limit this, targeted N regulation at the ID15 (1500 ha) level is slowly becoming a reality for farmers and authorities in Denmark. This paper explores the formulation of value propositions connected to developed technologies and concepts for retention mapping at the field level for more detailed targeted regulation. We explore all this through a comprehensive longitudinal ethnographic case study over a period of three years. We use the value proposition canvas to make sense of the viewpoints of the involved stakeholder groups. Our empirical setting is a large-scale research project in Denmark, a country that has high environmental goals regarding nitrogen loading. The publicly funded project involved a multitude of stakeholders, ranging from industry consultants, regulators, farmers and researchers from several disciplines. Important for our study is the fact that much of Denmark's regulation is based on a consensus-driven approach. Thus, it provides a compelling setting for exploring the creation of value propositions through multisector stakeholder engagement. Our findings indicate that, while there is a general movement towards targeted N regulation due to an advancement of knowledge, the practical side of its implementation is less straightforward. Here, stakeholder-formulated value propositions can facilitate this process, not only being connected to the measurement technology, but also relying on a link to a regulatory transformation.

KW - Aquatic pollution

KW - Governance model

KW - Groundwater nitrogen retention

KW - Nitrogen fertilizer

KW - Stakeholder engagement

KW - Triple helix

KW - Value propositions

U2 - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130496

DO - 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130496

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85123371657

VL - 337

JO - Journal of Cleaner Production

JF - Journal of Cleaner Production

SN - 0959-6526

M1 - 130496

ER -