Sophie Madelrieux – Research engineer on interactions between agri-food chains and territories, LESSEM, INRAE (testimonial from the dossier “Food and territories: INRAE scientists in support of territorial food projects” – 2023)
“Senator Marchand, during his ministerial mission on TFPs (final report July 2022), noted the lack of diagnostic or evaluation tools available to TFPs, which is reflected in the recommendation “R.7 Creation of a France TFP portal […] hosting tools useful to TFPs and data from the TFP observatory, also to be structured“. Tools exist, but they are not always visible, hence the challenge for the ACT department to connect them all and publicise them, at precisely the time when the RnPAT is considering what form this “France TFP” digital portal might take. In early 2023, a day on the territorial diagnosis tools for agri-food systems deployed in the ACT department helped to better identify and characterise them. The units are deploying 3 types of tools to support TFPs: – territorial information systems which, by entering the perimeter of the territory (list of municipalities), provide access to a wealth of socio-economic information and thematic indicators that can be exported, displayed in the form of graphs or maps, and used for the diagnosis and monitoring of developments. – observatories that can be used to geolocate production, processing and distribution operators who contribute to short and local circuits, or to organic farming, and on this basis to produce various analyses of these circuits and their importance. – modelling/simulation tools to explore in greater depth the question of land use and the location of production areas for local distribution channels.”
Testimonial from our thematic dossier
Thematic dossier
Food and local areas: INRAE scientists support local 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.
