Energy production from biogas in the Italian countryside: Modernization vs. repeasantization

Italy is experiencing a proliferation of biogas energy plants. In only a few years, the number of plants has grown from ten to nearly five hundred. Public policies have played an important role in stimulating and shaping the spread of biogas plants. Following the European Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) Italian public policy began to support the spread of biogas with a system of obligations and incentives. This system, combined with a rigid institutional framework, has shaped the organizational models adopted by farms for biogas technology implementation. From the point of view of sociological investigation, the article investigates the two main agricultural biogas organizational models: modernization and repeasantization. We present the two models through the study of two empirical cases, which highlight how different ways to introduce new technologies on farms can lead to different outcomes in ecological terms.