Isabelle Duvernoy – Research Fellow, Geographer, INRAE(testimonial from the dossier “Food and territories: INRAE scientists in support of territorial food projects” – 2023)
“As a geographer, I’m interested in the transformation of agricultural systems in urban and peri-urban areas. From 2020 to 2022, I studied the impact of territorial food policies in the Occitanie region as part of the GATO project with researchers from the Agir and Innovation joint research units. By analysing the organisation of 5 territorial food projects in rural areas, the researchers were able to reconstruct the trajectories of the agri-food issue in each territory. The project’s researchers also looked at 2 issues that are of concern to local players: 1) vegetable gardens, a new processing tool but also a new intermediary between producers and consumers; 2) food justice and social work. Territorial food projects integrate and structure a vast range of actions and require resources and staff to be devoted to them. They are also tools for introducing agri-food and ecological transitions. Their coordination and coherence with other public policies, such as local climate-air-energy plans, are major challenges for local authorities.
Testimonial from our thematic dossier
Thematic dossier
Food and regions: INRAE scientists support 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.
