Powering agriculture becomes strategic in a country which has privileged an export-oriented model aimed to be on the top 10 of food producers in the world, according to government expectations. Indeed, the concern arise due to... [ view full abstract ]
Powering agriculture becomes strategic in a country which has privileged an export-oriented model aimed to be on the top 10 of food producers in the world, according to government expectations. Indeed, the concern arise due to energy costs and market demands regarding low carbon footprint, as well as agriculture emissions and waste management.
In respond, the government has promoted non-conventional renewable energies (NCRE)[1], to provide solutions for energy production and the emission reduction in agriculture sector. Moreover, farming applications for reducing energy cost and usage of clean energy have been target for irrigation, drying, heating/cooling or waste management. This has been done in a row of several programs and projects to introduce renewable energies technologies. These actions have induced changes in the role of the sector for the country energy transition process.
However, an actor oriented approach of how people who design, plan and implement the interventions in the agriculture sector give meaning to this energy issue in the sector, is needed to understand the setup landscape for fostering this shift in the sector. At the same time, together with the actor’s perspectives the variety of institutional arrangements have engendered different pathways in the energy transition to renewable energy in the agriculture sector according to the spatial embeddedness of the technical solution promoted. Finding that the most important hock for farmers engagement have been energy cost alleviation, also an alternative for coping with water and waste resource management within the agriculture prodcution.
The overall environmental goals are set in the policy/program level while at implementation project is transformed in manageable units for the farmers. Initially, the programs where in the agriculture agenda, afterwards the agenda is set up by the energy sector. Today, the energy is understood as a new sector for economic development and energy deployment should be in line with local development in which the projects take place. Therefore, today agriculture sector play a key role for energy development projects due to its transversely in the management of natural resources and its centrality in local and regional development.
[1] "Non-Conventional Renewable Energy" is used to exclude major hydroelectric projects in the category; "Renewable Energies" include large hydroelectric plants (>20 MW of install capacity). Law 20.698/2013 Chilean Government.
3b Mitigating climate change (prevention and energy efficiency / biomass for energy / wind
