Delphine Gallaud (p)

Amélie Gonçalves

Many European countries are now conscious of the importance of shortening food chains and that collective catering can be a lever to attain this goal (Morgan & Sonnino, 2010) because of the amount of purchases of the public sector especially for canteens. But, in most cases shortening the food chains remains a voluntary process for organizations. The goal of this communication is, using the theoretical framework of the economics of proximity (Gilly & Torre, 2000), to analyze how farmers and collective catering build organized and geographical proximity and how the two kind of proximity connect to each other. Do actors manage to build specific territorial resources (Colletis & Pecqueur, 2004) with local food chains? We surveyed, farmers inscribed in an on line directory “Loc Halles”, created by a collective authority, the regional council of Burgundy. We get 40 answers from the 64 local farmers inscribed on “loc halles” directory. We will use the answers to build a typology of the farmers in relation with their organized proximity to the collective catering. As a first result, we see that transactions are markets transactions for all the farmers and very temporary relationships. All the farmers are in geographic proximity with the restaurants because the inscription on “loc halles” is possible only for the farmers that belong to the region. So the building of territorial resources seems be low in the region. We can also build a typology of producers that sell to collective catering and of those that does not sell their products in that kind of short food chains.

Marie Houdart (p), Baritaux Virginie, Iceri Vanessa, Lardon Sylvie, Le Bel Pierre-Mathieu, Loudiyi Salma

Amélie Gonçalves

The territorial anchorage of food can be seen as the reconnection of agriculture and food with territories. It takes the form of various initiatives, presented as alternatives to the dominant, concentrated and globalized agri-food system. These initiatives are supported by a diversity of actors (market, civil society and/or public) and concern various scales. Our question concerns the drivers of the territorial anchorage of food: are there commonalities between the different food anchorage processes, whatever the type of actor carrying the initiative and its scale of action?

The results presented in this communication are based on the cross-analysis of fifteen case studies conducted in the PSDR4 INVENTER project. These cases examine the role of different types of actors in food governance and food initiatives at different scales. First, the cross-analysis shows that food territorial anchorage is based on the combination of both territorial and extra-territorial resources, regardless of the type of actors or the scale of action. Second, the case studies highlight that food territorial anchorage is often based on bringing together actors with different models. This reconciliation can be achieved through the implementation of a participatory approach or through specific modalities of coordination of actors (formal and informal). Third, territorial anchorage of food is based on the specific contributions of key actors, whether collective or individual. These contributions may consist in mobilizing certain resources, bringing together and coordinating stakeholders, integrating and/or assimilating different models or spreading values and practices from one place to another.

In conclusion, the cross-analysis of our studies highlights several points: territorial anchorage of food is carried out according to a great diversity of processes (setting up institutional projects or collective action for example); it is based on the mobilization and creation of resources that can be of different natures but also of different scales; it often involves bringing together different food system models. Research perspectives are proposed on the mechanisms for implementing the specific contributions of some actors.

Céline Raimbert (p), Gwenaëlle Raton (p)

Amélie Gonçalves

With the rise of local short food chains (SFSC) and in a context of reconnection between agriculture and food, more and more producers are becoming physical actors of food supply chains. By reducing the number of intermediaries, more and more commercial and logistical tasks fall to producers. They involve developing more or less close relationships with a potential or established clientele (canvassing, communicating, ensuring follow-up in demand areas), but also, very often, delivering. As soon as the issue is no longer about observing the catchment area of a store but the mobility practices of actors from the productive space towards consumption basins, it modifies the focus of the geographer. This implies questioning producers' representations of spaces and territorial resources and the processes at work in their preferences to certain delivered spaces. What does the mobility of producers in SFSC say about their links built/under construction with the various spaces adjacent to farms (urban, multi-polarized areas, peri-urban, rural)? From the point of view of these mobility practices, what are the emerging territories?
This communication aims at analyzing the mobility practices of producers of SFSC from their farm to their delivered outlets and the territories they build then. Thanks to a case study based on 6 farmers in Nord (France), we qualify their mobility territories in light of influence processes and representation of territorial resources: first, the influence of urban areas, as consumption basins and then, the influence of production basins considered as places of agricultural production concentration with attractive or repulsive potential. The detailed analysis of spatial practices, depending of the delivery frequencies for instance, also highlights mechanisms of suffered or chosen proximities.
In the results, we compare the mobility territory of the six investigated producers and try to highlight some occurrences such as: (1) producers whose farms are located in or near dense urban areas draw concentrated territories where distances are short. Considered as sufficient and adequate, local territorial resources are used and valued; (2) when farms are located in marginal areas, producers tend to adopt radical strategy as extroversion; (3) diversification strategies are also observed, they tend to increase the size of the mobility territory; (4) combination strategies existed, where local resources are valued, they show a particular attachment to the place of origin (farm) coupled with a desire for diversification towards other environments
+see extended abstract

Sébastien Bourdin (p)

Amélie Gonçalves

The development of biogas in different regions has had to face forms of social opposition which might affect the success of the projects. In such a context, the project initiators must implement everything they can to encourage the various kinds of proximity (geographical and organized) between actors in order to see their project through. We used a logit model on 91 biogas projects and semi-structured interviews to analyze the views of the anaerobic digestion stakeholders and their connections in order to identify and understand the obstacles to the development of joint biogas projects. We found that a lack of coordination among actors and a lack of consultation are often at the origin of confrontations, which lead the project initiators to abandon the construction of a biogas plant.