Embeddedness in local farm- scale bioenergy production

Abstract

Local bioenergy production is a new branch of farming related entrepreneurship in rural areas. In Finland, rural bioenergy production consists mainly of heat production using wood based fuels (heat entrepreneurship), but there are also farmers producing liquid biofuels, or heat and electricity from biogas. Local bioenergy production systems involve networks of various actors, and they can be analysed in terms of sustainable rural development and multifunctionality. However, in order to gain a deeper understanding about the formation and functioning of bioenergy production systems, an exploration into the concept of embeddedness is useful. Local energy production systems can be considered more embedded in the locality, whereas large, centralised energy production systems might be more disembedded in nature. Embeddedness offers an insight into the role of relationships, personal ties, values and traditions that are essential in local energy production. The purpose of this article is to explore embeddedness in local bioenergy production from the perspective of energy producing farmers. This is accomplished by focusing on the multidimensional nature of embeddedness on horizontal and vertical levels. The key question to consider is: what kind of embeddedness can be observed in local bioenergy production systems, and how is it acknowledged and used among energy producers? The study is based on qualitative interviews of 31 energy producing farmers in Finland.