Une exploration des liens entre dynamiques identitaires et développement territorial. Le cas des agriculteurs biologiques

Cet article propose une analyse des liens entre la dynamique identitaire et l’engagement dans un projet de développement territorial, chez les agriculteurs biologiques. Adoptant une posture constructiviste, nous posons comme hypothèse que la dynamique identitaire, entendue comme une configuration particulière entre tensions identitaires et histoire de vie, influence le type de projet initié par l’agriculteur. Nous abordons le développement territorial dans sa double dimension de coordination des acteurs et de construction des ressources. Les deux études de cas réalisées soutiennent cette hypothèse.An Exploratory Study of the Links Between Identity Dynamics and Local Development. The Case of the Organic Farmers The links between the European agricultural crisis and the development of initiatives gathered under the name of not-conventional agriculture have been the object of many researches. Our article proposes an analysis of the links between identity dynamics of the organic farmers and their engagement in a project of local development. Adopting a constructivist point of view, we put forward the hypothesis that the organic farmer who starts a project of local development will build resources and set up coordination between actors according to his particular identity dynamics. Although the objective of this article is modest, it treats, according to us, an essential dimension that is seldom approached in research. Resources and methods of coordination do not exist at a rough state. They are built, modulated and transformed by the subject. We thus isolate here identity dynamics, like one of the entrance doors to understand a project of local development. Let us say from the beginning on that our research is just an exploratory step, illustrated by two case studies, which will require validation by research of greater extent. Antoine and Frederic are engaged in two different forms of local action. Antoine is the owner of a horticultural exploitation of average size in Flanders, which he has been running for 20 years. The interest of Antoine for organic agriculture started in the "after 68" period. After his studies came a non-fulfilling professional period which led to strong identity tensions. Antoine sank in depression. He left his job and engaged in organic agriculture. Frederic, a rich businessman, inherited a very big farm in Wallonia. He made the unpleasant discovery that the ground water below his lands was strongly polluted and that the origin of this problem was partially due to the use of chemical fertilisers. He decided to convert his lands into organic agriculture. We observe that as well Antoine as Frederic engaged in a project of local development. The two projects converge according to certain criteria but diverge according to others. Both included public welfare in their project and both implement effective strategies. Antoine developed, with his wife, a project carried primarily by small organic farmers, by an associative network and by a community of consumers. Frederic, on the opposite, mobilized large scale actors, such as a university, authorities, administrations and big farmers of the region. The two farmers mobilized different social, cultural and economic capitals, accumulated through their life-history. The difference between life style understood as heavy tendencies in their own trajectory, allows understanding, partially, the difference between the two projects. In the case of Antoine, the coordination between actors is a compromise between the civic, domestic and industrial "city", with a prevalence of the two first. In the case of Frederic coordination is based on a compromise between the civic, commercial and industrial "city", with a prevalence of the two last

Une exploration des liens entre dynamiques identitaires et développement territorial. Le cas des agriculteurs biologiques

Cet article propose une analyse des liens entre la dynamique identitaire et l’engagement dans un projet de développement territorial, chez les agriculteurs biologiques. Adoptant une posture constructiviste, nous posons comme hypothèse que la dynamique identitaire, entendue comme une configuration particulière entre tensions identitaires et histoire de vie, influence le type de projet initié par l’agriculteur. Nous abordons le développement territorial dans sa double dimension de coordination des acteurs et de construction des ressources. Les deux études de cas réalisées soutiennent cette hypothèse.An Exploratory Study of the Links Between Identity Dynamics and Local Development. The Case of the Organic Farmers The links between the European agricultural crisis and the development of initiatives gathered under the name of not-conventional agriculture have been the object of many researches. Our article proposes an analysis of the links between identity dynamics of the organic farmers and their engagement in a project of local development. Adopting a constructivist point of view, we put forward the hypothesis that the organic farmer who starts a project of local development will build resources and set up coordination between actors according to his particular identity dynamics. Although the objective of this article is modest, it treats, according to us, an essential dimension that is seldom approached in research. Resources and methods of coordination do not exist at a rough state. They are built, modulated and transformed by the subject. We thus isolate here identity dynamics, like one of the entrance doors to understand a project of local development. Let us say from the beginning on that our research is just an exploratory step, illustrated by two case studies, which will require validation by research of greater extent. Antoine and Frederic are engaged in two different forms of local action. Antoine is the owner of a horticultural exploitation of average size in Flanders, which he has been running for 20 years. The interest of Antoine for organic agriculture started in the "after 68" period. After his studies came a non-fulfilling professional period which led to strong identity tensions. Antoine sank in depression. He left his job and engaged in organic agriculture. Frederic, a rich businessman, inherited a very big farm in Wallonia. He made the unpleasant discovery that the ground water below his lands was strongly polluted and that the origin of this problem was partially due to the use of chemical fertilisers. He decided to convert his lands into organic agriculture. We observe that as well Antoine as Frederic engaged in a project of local development. The two projects converge according to certain criteria but diverge according to others. Both included public welfare in their project and both implement effective strategies. Antoine developed, with his wife, a project carried primarily by small organic farmers, by an associative network and by a community of consumers. Frederic, on the opposite, mobilized large scale actors, such as a university, authorities, administrations and big farmers of the region. The two farmers mobilized different social, cultural and economic capitals, accumulated through their life-history. The difference between life style understood as heavy tendencies in their own trajectory, allows understanding, partially, the difference between the two projects. In the case of Antoine, the coordination between actors is a compromise between the civic, domestic and industrial "city", with a prevalence of the two first. In the case of Frederic coordination is based on a compromise between the civic, commercial and industrial "city", with a prevalence of the two last

Les évolutions des exploitations agricoles bios

Cette contribution porte sur un échantillon de 28 agriculteurs bio interrogés à deux reprises : en 2002 et 2011. Elle cherche à comprendre l’évolution de leurs exploitations entre ces deux dates en recourant, à titre principal, à la Resource Dependance Theory de Pfeffer et Salancik. Les dépendances que l’on relève aux deux moments frappent par leur variété et leur instabilité. Elles ne s’expliquent que très partiellement par les hypothèses macrosociologiques de la conventionnalisation et de l’institutionnalisation du bio. En revanche, elles se comprennent si l’on prend en compte, à un niveau plus microsociologique, les stratégies que les entreprises développent pour les éviter, les absorber, les contourner ou encore les assumer.This article focuses on a sample of 28 organic farmers interviewed twice: in 2002 and 2011. It seeks to understand the changes of their farms between these two periods using, primarily, the Resource Dependance Theory of Pfeffer and Salancik. Dependencies observed in both times strike by their variety and instability. They can only partially be explained by the macro-level assumptions of institutionalization and conventianalization of organic farming. However, we understand them if we take into account, at a more micro-sociological level, the strategies that the companies develop to avoid, absorb, pass round or assume these dependances

Plaidoyer universitaire pour le rail

[Chapeau] Le réseau ferré en Wallonie s’apparentera bientôt à un train touristique reliant deux gares Calatrava plutôt que d’assurer à chacun le droit à sa mobilité

Maternal milk consumption, fetal growth, and the risks of neonatal complications: The Generation R Study

Background: Maternal cow-milk consumption may increase birth weight. Previous studies did not assess the association of maternal milk consumption with trimester-specific fetal growth. Objective: The objective was to assess associations of first-trimester maternal milk consumption with fetal growth characteristics in different trimesters and the risk of neonatal complications. Design: In total, 3405 mothers participating in a prospective cohort study completed a 293-item semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire to obtain information about dairy consumption during the first trimester of pregnancy. Fetal head circumference, femur length, and weight were estimated in the second and third trimesters by ultrasonography. Results: Maternal milk consumption of >3 glasses/d was associated with greater fetal weight gain in the third trimester of pregnancy, which led to an 88-g (95% CI: 39, 135 g) higher birth weight than that with milk consumption of 0 to 1 glass/d. In addition, head circumference tended to be 2.3 cm (95% CI: -0.0, 4.6 cm) larger when mothers consumed >3 glasses/d. Maternal milk consumption was not associated with length growth. Maternal protein intake (P for trend = 0.01), but not fat or carbohydrate intake, from dairy products was associated with higher birth weight. This association appeared to be limited to milk (P for trend < 0.01), whereas protein intake from nondairy food or cheese was not associated with birth weight. Conclusions: Maternal milk consumption is associated with greater fetal weight gain. The association seems to be due to milk protein, or milk components closely associated with protein, rather than to the fat or carbohydrate fraction of milk