Fairer,healthier,and more sustainable? Three contested sociotechnical imaginaries for transforming the European agri-food system

Abstract

The European Commission's Farm to Fork Strategy aims to transform the European Union's agrifood system to address sustainability, health, and equity challenges. Central to this transformation is Horizon Europe, the EU's flagship research and innovation funding program, which mobilizes public and private investment in agri-food technologies. Drawing on a Sociotechnical Imaginary (STI) framework, this paper analyses 26 Horizon Europe Calls (2021–2024) to examine how visions for EU agrifood systems are co-produced, legitimized, and contested. We identify three dominant imaginaries: (1) nature-based solutions as pathways to sustainability; (2) alternative proteins as key to promoting health; and (3) smart technologies as enablers of fairness and inclusion. While these imaginaries claim to advance sustainability, health, and equity goals, our analysis reveals that they predominantly reflect the interests of powerful institutional and corporate actors. These technocentric visions facilitate the commodification of nature, promote surveillance-based data extraction models, and consolidate control over agrifood systems in the hands of a few dominant players. We further demonstrate how these dominant imaginaries marginalize alternative visions advocated by food sovereignty movements, farmer organizations, and watchdog groups such as IPES-Food, ETC Group, La Via Campesina and European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC). These alternative imaginaries emphasize agroecology, local knowledge systems, and participatory governance, yet remain largely excluded from EU funding priorities and policy frameworks. We argue for the urgent need to embed participatory technology assessment and data sovereignty principles within EU agrifood research and innovation governance. Such measures are critical to democratizing decision-making, preventing technology lock-in, and ensuring more equitable and sustainable food system transformations in Europe.