Dr Guilherme Raj

This paper delves into the experiences of new-entrant women farmers in creating leadership roles in community-supported agriculture (CSA) and how these experiences relate to the transformative potential of this agri-food model. It contributes to the literature on gender relations in CSA and agri-food transformation more broadly by offering new insights into disidentification from the traditional “woman farmer” identity prescribed by capitalist agri-food systems. We present case studies of three women farmers in two different CSA initiatives in Portugal, using data from semi-structured interviews and participant observation, and analysing them through open coding. Our study demonstrates that a focus on disidentification strategies shifts attention to the analysis of dissent from the status quo, revealing the tensions and ambivalent effects that ensue. Disidentification and leadership roles were influenced by these women farmers’ family constellations, sexuality and agricultural backgrounds. Although CSA initiatives are conducive to women farmers’ emancipation, the absence of collective efforts to address unequal gender relations hinders their transformative potential. CSA initiatives tend to overlook power imbalances emerging from their internal micro-politics and neglect the ambivalent effects shaping their transformative efforts. These findings offer new insights into agri-food transformation from a gender perspective and emphasise the non-linear nature of transformation as women farmers continually disidentify from the traditional “woman farmer” identity, even as they create alternative power positions in CSA that align more with their aspirations and abilities.

Food systems are characterised by persistent injustices – from exploitative labour and unequal access to healthy food to disproportionate environmental burdens on marginalised communities. These injustices have spurred diverse conceptual frameworks (e.g., food democracy, food sovereignty, food justice), resulting in a fragmented debate around justice that tends to conceptualise it as an ideal outcome, rather than as a process. In this paper, we introduce the concept of “just sustainability transitions” to integrate distributive, recognitive and procedural dimensions of justice within a dynamic, process-oriented approach to food governance. Focusing on Food Policy Networks (FPNs) – i.e., multi‐stakeholder networks operating at the intersection of policy and practice – we conducted 67 semi‐structured interviews across varied institutional and cultural contexts and examined how justice is negotiated, enacted and transformed in everyday governance. Our analysis reveals that distributive justice often remains aspirational rather than structurally embedded, whereas recognitive and procedural justice are pursued unevenly due to local power asymmetries and institutional cultures. Within these constraints, emergent practices – such as reconfigured leadership models and enhanced participatory mechanisms – illustrate how actors experiment with redistributing power and reimagining inclusion. These practices suggest that power redistribution should be understood not merely as a democratic outcome, but as a precondition for achieving meaningful and equitable participation. By framing justice as a plural, contested and evolving process, this study bridges fragmented discourses of justice in food systems research and positions participatory governance platforms such as FPNs as sites where “justice‐in‐the‐making” unfolds.

11 This chapter delves into the role of power in sustainability transitions, addressing the 12 limited attention power dynamics have received in the field despite their centrality to 13 lasting societal change. Drawing on theories of power from various disciplines, this 14 chapter introduces two conceptual frameworks to analyse power: (1) " power to, over, and 15 with " , which examines how and which power relations change over time, and (2) " three 16 relations of power " , which focuses on how power relations are constituted and shape 17 societal change. These frameworks are applied to a case study of community-supported 18 agriculture (CSA) in Portugal, showcasing grassroots efforts to address socio-political 19 and ecological challenges while striving for sustainable agri-food systems. The analysis 20 reveals how power influences opportunities and barriers for transitions, emphasising the 21 interplay between individual and collective agency, human and non-human interactions, 22 and historical structures of social relationships. The chapter concludes by emphasising 23 the need for more power-aware research that integrates diverse perspectives, including 24 non-Western and Indigenous epistemologies, to deepen the understanding of power in 25 sustainability transitions. 26