The territorial governance of organic food and farming in mainstream agriculture spaces: The case of Paris Region

Abstract

Since 2007, the organic farming is becoming a part of the European and French agricultural policies, It is display in local and national programs as a factor of territorial development, in particular for the new form of periurban areas. The politicians use this argument to boost the emancipation of the conventional practices in agriculture. The Paris Region promotes environment friendly economy and sustainable development by organic farming. And the political context is disposed to this alternative to the dominant agrofood system. However the social needs for a "green world" could be offset with the geographic and economic reality. The organic system is unstructured and relatively weak. It rises in a territory designed by decade of intensive farming and traditional farmer political power. As an immaterial and physic support of the organic economy the territory remains the main assets for the system in progress. The historical features create path dependencies for the future of the organic, a set of constraints for the diverse groups of agents involved. These distinctive lines and the quasi absence of structuration of the organic supply chain are constituent of a territorial system. The organic territories become icon or avatar of the proximities in the regional space. The re value of the local in a context of increasing integration of the food supply chain in international flows impose a threefold analysis on the space use, agents relations and resources