Heterogeneity of Agricultural Biogas Plants in France: A Sectoral System of Innovation Perspective

Abstract

Literature on biogas production mainly studies the outputs of production or the technical dimension of its organization. We argue that there is a need to study this process in a more institutional political economy perspective to understand the variety of biogas plants’ organizational models. We draw on the sectoral system of innovation and production perspective (SSIP) to analyze strategies of farmers adopting such an innovation in the agricultural sector. We mobilize data from semi-structured interviews with farmers and 1. Acknowledgements: The authors thank the two anonymous reviewers for their relevant comments and suggestions that helped to improve this article. The authors are also very grateful to the interviewees. This paper is part of the “Métha’Revenus” (CEP 2018 AAP 01) research project. The authors wish to thank Louis Dupuy, Martino Nieddu, all the members of the BIOCA research program, Léa Molinié, and Mickaël Hugonnet, for their valuable advice on this research. The authors also wish to thank the PSDR4 programme which has allowed scientific cooperation with other programs addressing biogas production in France. Financial support: This project benefited from the support of the French Ministry of Agriculture (CEP 2018 AAP 01 project). It also benefited from the support of the Centre des Politiques de la Terre (Idex Université de Paris, Meth’InTer) as well as the APESA. This work has also received financial support from the LabEx DynamiTe (ANR-11-LABX-0046) as part of the “Investissements d’Avenir” program. n° 38 – Journal of Innovation Economics & Management 2022/2 11 DOI: 10.3917/jie.038.0011 © D e B oe ck S up ér ie ur | T él éc ha rg é le 0 1/ 06 /2 02 2 su r w w w .c ai rn .in fo ( IP : 3 5. 16 0. 27 .2 21 ) © D e B oeck S uprieur | T éléhargé le 016/2022 ur w w w .can.info IP : 35.1.27.221) institutional stakeholders in France. We highlight a process of heterogenization of agricultural biogas plants, which results from a conflictual but lasting process of new technology appropriation by actors with various strategies within and outside the agricultural sector. We identify four different agricultural biogas production models: internalization and symbiosis, cereal grower using BP in injection, small group of farmers, partial outsourcing, and generic technology. We also discuss the possibility of the emergence of a new one: agricultural cooperative-investors joint projects.