Imagining biodiversity-respectful food system futures

Future imaginaries shape societal pathways by framing what kinds of change is considered desirable, feasible, and legitimate. When collectively shared, such narratives can reinforce dominant trajectories or open space for transformative change. In food systems, imaginaries are particularly salient given the urgent need to halt biodiversity decline alongside persistent disagreements over how this should be achieved. This study examines the imaginaries underpinning land sparing and land sharing as contrasting land use strategies for promoting biodiversity within food systems. Although increasingly presented as complementary, their paradigmatic and ontological foundations remain poorly understood. Drawing on a series of futures workshops with key stakeholders of the Finnish food system, this study explores how sparing and sharing imaginaries are articulated, what elements they comprise, and which underlying ontologies shape them. The analysis reveals that while the imaginaries share certain surface-level goals, they diverge markedly in their assumptions about food system’s institutional structures and human–nature relations. The sparing imaginary largely reinforces existing food system structures and relies on top-down control, whereas the sharing imaginary challenges prevailing institutional arrangements and emphasises collective, bottom-up agency. By making these underlying orientations visible, the study helps explain why food system transformation often remains incremental despite widespread recognition of the biodiversity crisis. The findings contribute to research on food system futures by demonstrating how imaginaries can function as a bridging concept between future visions and deeper paradigmatic foundations, and by providing analytical orientation for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners navigating competing pathways towards biodiversity-respectful food systems.