Introduction : Agri-environmental governance as assemblage

The environmental impacts of agricultural production have, since the late 1960s, elicited growing social concerns and increasing scholarly attention especially in regards to the ability to regulate practices in efforts to mitigate degradation. In this context, the concept of assemblage has recently attracted the attention of social scientists who want to focus on the emergent and overdetermined nature of agri-environmental practices in agriculture. Despite being comprised of multiplicities and irreducible possibilities, assemblages are continually in the process of territorialisation, congealing in specific configurations and identities which are immediately contested and destabilised. This chapter employs agri-environmental governance as a broad framing that encompasses the multiple actions, which aim to implement change in the food system and address environmental issues related to agricultural production.