The National Research Programmes on Organic Farming 2000–2006: French Country Report

In France, the research programmes have always been fairly decentralized. They are being carried out at several research institutions1 and universities. Government funding and sources of financing are available at national, regional and district level. Even at the national level, it is not easy to identify a real unified research policy. The main way to analyse the funding systems is to follow up the topics mentioned in the calls for proposals, which are often very much influenced by various policy networks. During the last decades, farmers’ organisations have influenced the main themes of the research programmes, both at the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) as well as at other institutions. However, since the beginning of the 1990s, a real diversification of the themes can be observed, due to substantial changes that have been taking place in the agricultural sector since then. Changes include the diversification of production models towards designation of origin (DOC); introduction of farmhouse products, extensive agriculture, breeding with suckling cows; increased attention on rural development, environmental aspects, sustainability, etc. Organic farming has a special place in this framework as its policy networks had to fight a long time to become recognised. In the year 2000 a national programme for organic farming was set up by the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA). At the same time there were also other calls for proposals from various bodies, both at national and regional level, which cover organic farming within the overall topics. Several of these programmes are described in this article, even if they are not specialised on organic farming. It should be mentioned in this context that the main responsible experts are represented in the different boards. Organic farming projects are therefore consistent and overlapping is in fact often avoided. The main actors in French agricultural research are - National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA), - the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (Teaching and Research Department DGER) and the Ministry of Research, - the Union of the Technical Institutes for Agriculture (ACTA), consisting of 20 technical institutes organised by agricultural commodities, - the Union of the Technical Institutes for Food Processing (ACTIA), consisting of 15 technical institutes organised by processed commodities, - the Agency for Agricultural Development (ANDA) which was replaced in 2004 by the Agency for Agricultural and Rural Development (ADAR) who are yearly issuing calls for proposals. The whole system was simplified and rationalised in 2005 by the creation of the National Research Agency

Organic Farming and food quality chains in Europe

Out from the evolutions of the European agro food systems since the 80’ and besides Organic Farming, several other modes of production developed in parallel to the main stream system. This gave rise, during the last decades, to different research agendas and networks, which in general – and unfortunately - ignore each others. This paper intends to give some outlines to account for the diversity of those ap-proaches and give some path of convergence for the future. In the frame of the new European agricultural policy, those research networks could gain credibility and power through improving connections with each others and make their relations more intense

Facing the organic reality : the diversity of development models and their consequences on research policies

While OF&F specificity or diversity are acknowledged in many studies, the process of selecting development models is still a pending issue. Based on literature review and our experience, we propose a comprehensive description of such models. Two main axes determine four models. The first axis refers to governance patterns, whether individual or collective. The second one opposes means-based OF to system redesign. Four models are then described, and potential transitions among them are discussed. The role and nature of public policies likely to support candidate models is finally examined. On this basis, this paper intends to openly lay down the stakes of a public research policy for OF&F. As the current poli-cies generally consider implicitly OF&F as an homoge-nous entity, the authors emphasize it’s the diversity and show how the research agendas are strongly connected to the development models for OF&F

Microbial Fuel Cell Transformation of Recalcitrant Organic Compounds in Support of Biosensor Research

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have the potential to be used as low-cost, real-time biosensors for drinking water sources. MFCs have been shown to produce current through oxidation of readily degradable organic substrates and the current can be correlated to the substrate concentration. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the transformation of recalcitrant organic compounds, such as aldicarb, in MFCs and to determine if the current generation and current metrics are related to the transformation, through the measured concentrations, of these recalcitrant organic compounds. Partial transformation of aldicarb was observed over two days in the presence of aerobic bacteria when aldicarb was initially at 1 mg L-1 (average concentration difference 13.8%). The aldicarb concentration changed very little when in the presence of anaerobic bacteria, or when added to deionized water or feed media (average concentration difference anaerobic bacteria 0.7%, feed solution 1.8%, deionized water 2.0%). Aldicarb transformation was greater in MFCs than in the aerobic bacteria solution but only partial transformation was observed (average concentration difference MFC1 15.9%, MFC3 28.8%). These data confirm that biotransformation of aldicarb does not occur readily. Aldicarb does not serve as a substrate for the bacteria that generate current in MFCs. This finding was supported by the fact that #1) there were no strong linear regression correlations between the change in aldicarb concentration and the current metrics generated from the MFC, #2) cyclic voltammetry profiles show very little oxidation potential for aldicarb, #3) the majority of current generation from the aldicarb feed cycles was most likely due to the acetonitrile solvent, and #4) MFCs did not show a tendency to acclimate to aldicarb

Is it easy for producers to market organic beef meat ? The case of Biobourgogne Viande (France).

This contribution aims to present the results of a French case-study analysis - BioBourgogne Viande - carried up by members of three research teams in the framework of the European Program OMIaRD (Organic Marketing Initiatives and Rural Development) . In a first part, after a brief description of the region where the O.M.I is located, we present the main features of the development of BioBourgogne Viande, from its origins to the present day. In a second part, the motivations, cohesion and competencies are analysed in the structure of a SWOT (opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses), identifying organisational learning processes through the past ten year

Competencia internacional y etica de produccion : la agricultura ecologica, un caso aparte?

La agricultura ecológica conoce un gran desarollo en numerosos países del Mundo. Los productos ecológicos forman parte de los intercambios comerciales a nivel internacional. Estos flujos pueden ser dificultados por la creación de barreras comerciales basadas en criterios técnicos tal como las normativas de producción. Esta contribución constituye una reflexión sobre el movimiento actual de armonización de los métodos de producción, a nivel mundial. Los autores muestran que esta tendencia se confronta a dos obstáculos importantes: por una parte, existen múltiples definiciones de la agricultura ecológica; por otra parte, los métodos de control del respeto de las normativas de producción difieren de un país a otro. Esta situación resulta de la disparidad en los niveles de desarrollo económico de los países implicados en el comercio de productos ecológicos: esta disparidad es responsable de la gran variabilidad de las preocupaciones de los ciudadanos y de los responsables políticos. Para los países en desarrollo, el modelo de agricultura de bajos insumos que representa la agricultura ecológica puede contribuir de forma significativa al abastecimiento de la población. Una normativa exigente y un control estricto de los métodos de producción constituyen potentes obstáculos al desarrollo. Sin embargo, cuando estos mismos países intentan exportar su produccíon hacía paises desarrollados, se confrontan, por parte de sus clientes, a la ausencia de reconocimiento de su normativa de producción. En conclusion, la problematica de los obstáculos técnicos al comercio internacional de los productos ecológicos es un tema de gran actualidad, del cual las organizaciones del sector deben preocuparse

The spectroscopic impedance of cellophane

Paper presented at the Fifth International Conference on Electromagnetic Wave Interaction with Water and Moist Substances, 2003, Rotorua, N. Z.The electrical impedance of cellophane has been measured as a function of moisture content and temperature in the frequency range 10⁻³ – 10⁵ Hz. The data show a very strong dependence on moisture content, which is a typical characteristic of hygroscopic solids, and at low frequencies, remarkable constant phase angle spectra were obtained. Making use of the hopping model of conduction in non-crystalline solids, we explain the measured spectra. The model treats absorbed water as an impurity in the cellophane and conduction is predicted to occur by temperature-activated proton hopping between water molecules. We also propose that this model is widely applicable to prediction of the low frequency dielectric properties of hygroscopic solids

The strategic turn of Organic Farming in Europe : a resource based approach of Organic Marketing Initiatives

International audienceThis paper explores the Organic farming " s development potential in Europe by analysing the enterprises capacities to reach a workable structure of the supply chains, in order to market good products at reasonable prices. This study has been carried out in the framework of the OMIaRD project, which aimed to assess the impact of the Organic Marketing Initiatives on Rural Development. The results show that, after a growing phase, most of the OMIs meet strategic problems linked to their ability to face an increasing of collected, processed and marketed volumes. This strategic turn point leads them to take decisions together with their stakeholders, so as the economical and ethical goals are not questioned by the changes to be implemented

Diagnostic et perspectives de développement de la filière viande bovine biologique des Pays de la Loire

La filière viande bovine biologique des Pays de la Loire présente les particularités suivantes : - de nombreux acteurs n’interviennent qu’en prestation de service . C’est le cas des organisations de producteurs pour la collecte, l’estimation, le transport et la facturation des animaux, c’est le cas aussi de certains abattoirs et ateliers de découpe agréés sollicités pour l’approvisionnement des bouchers, des magasins spécialisés ou des producteurs – vendeurs. Dans l’état actuel de l’organisation de la filière et quelles que soient les compétences de ces intervenants, ils n’ont pas le pouvoir d’intervenir dans la dynamique de filière. - Pour chaque maillon de la filière (production, collecte, transformation, distribution) nous observons une réelle hétérogénéité des acteurs. Des relations privilégiées se sont nouées entre certains transformateurs et certains distributeurs, dessinant ainsi deux voies de transformation-distribution : la voie « industrielle » et la voie « spécialisée ». Cependant nous ne pouvons pas parler de segmentation en sous-filières dans la mesure où le maillon production n’est pas segmenté. Ainsi, malgré la diversité des sensibilités des producteurs, ils ne sont pas impliqués dans le choix des débouchés de leurs animaux. Ainsi il n’existe pas de segmentation de la production en fonction de sous-filières différenciées. - E-Bio constitue un acteur spécifique dans la mesure où les animaux ne transitent pas physiquement par cette structure mais il assure la centralisation de l’offre. Le rôle d’E-Bio est organisationnel. E-Bio sous-traite les fonctions techniques associées classiquement au regroupement de l’offre (estimation, collecte, transport) à des organisations de producteurs Cela permet de constater que les opérateurs vraiment actifs se situent - dans la filière artisanale par la dynamique des artisans bouchers, - dans la filière d’accès aux magasins spécialisés par la dynamique des producteurs surtout sous la coordination d’E-Bio, - dans la filière d’accès aux GMS par la dynamique des distributeurs et des industriels, avec l’appui d’E-Bio, - dans la filière vente directe par la dynamique des producteurs. L’organisation de la filière ainsi caractérisée, il s’agit maintenant de synthétiser le contexte d’expression des dynamiques des acteurs. La viande bovine bio est un des segments particuliers du marché de la viande bovine. Les producteurs biologiques et leurs organisations travaillent avec des acteurs majeurs de la filière viande bovine. Ainsi, les perspectives d’évolution du contexte et les stratégies de certains acteurs de la filière biologique ne peuvent s’appréhender indépendamment du contexte plus général de la filière viande bovine