Richard Bonin – Head of Culture and Sustainable Economy, Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park
Florence Dodet – Former head of agriculture, forestry and exemplary rural town planning and the Valeurs brand, Monts d’Ardèche Regional Nature Park (testimonials from the dossier “Food and territories: INRAE scientists in support of territorial food projects” – 2023)
“Our Regional Nature Park has been looking at food issues since 2010. As an RNP, we have an experimentation remit and a scientific council, so we have very strong links with research, so we were quick to call on scientists, particularly sociologists, to help our region roll out its food policies. With INRAE, a key partner in the area of food, we worked together on a territorial food forecast and a research project, L’Assiette et le territoire, looking at governance and food trajectories. These 2 initiatives have made a major contribution to the creation of territorial food projects, which did not exist in the Ardèche until 2019. As our Regional Nature Park is not a catchment area, we have chosen to support the emergence of TFPs in the inter-communal areas rather than being the driving force behind them. Today, 8 of the Park’s 10 inter-municipalities have TFPs. In conjunction with research, the Park is committed to supporting inter-municipalities, for example by funding Cifre theses and the international ATTER project to develop a network on territorialisation. Dealing with these issues from a research perspective is also a way of gaining perspective.”
Testimonial from our thematic dossier
Thematic dossier
Food and regions: INRAE scientists supporting regional food projects
Over the last 60 years, the places where food is produced, processed and consumed have gradually moved further apart: from farm to fork, the distances have increased. Faced with this phenomenon, local authorities have gradually demanded that they ‘reclaim’ their agri-food systems. INRAE scientists have been working closely with local players on these issues, in particular the ACT department, which has been conducting research into territorial dynamics for almost 40 years. In 2014, the deployment of ‘territorial food projects’, a new tool in local food policy, called on a wide range of scientific knowledge and methods, now involving several INRAE departments. This dossier is an initial look at the involvement of INRAE scientists in the implementation of local food projects.
