AT at a time when the vagaries of the climate are multiplying and reminding us that global warming is indeed here, when the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 have put the question of sovereignty back at the heart of the objectives of our decision-makers, the temptation of a new headlong rush for our agriculture is only reinforced: that of an activity which focuses (once again) almost exclusively on production by betting, with increasingly sophisticated techniques, on a high level of use of fertilizers and pesticides, by requesting more abundant access to water resources – this common good which is becoming a real social issue –, thus turning its back on society’s understanding of this activity, and announcing destructive perspectives of our territories.
We cannot, and should not, choose between producing agricultural goods and producing environmental services. The nature of the issues obliges us to produce both! Especially since they do not oppose each other.
We, who accompany the network of regional natural parks (PNR) within their scientific councils, so that they are reference territories in these transitions, consider that agroecology (i.e. the integrated use resources and mechanisms of nature in the objective of agricultural production, aiming to take better advantage of the interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment) must no longer be an option but an emergency, and that a massive changeover of farms in a new alliance with ecosystems and territories is the only sustainable option.
A global conversion approach
It would guarantee better performance in the face of global warming, by making it more resilient to hazards, less dependent on uncertain water resources, better integrated into the life of the territories, providing its part of the solution by storing more carbon, limiting the rainwater runoff and by restoring, through soil regeneration and ecological infrastructure, a tremendous boost to local biodiversity.
Agriculture: everything has to change
The French agricultural model remains the symbol of the inadequacy of the economic system to the double crisis of climate and biodiversity.
- “The Common Agricultural Policy is an aberration compared to the climate and environmental impact of agriculture”, by Hannes Lorenzen, President of the Agricultural and Rural Convention 2020
- “Humanity has known, for ten years, how to make food without agriculture”, by Gilles Fumey, professor of geography at Sorbonne Identities, international relations and civilizations of Europe (Sirice, Sorbonne University-CNRS)
- “Providing quality food accessible to all should be a major concern of public authorities”, by Jean-Philippe Martin, historian
- “The agricultural lobby braces itself on the old world”, by Gilles Luneau, journalist and director
- “How to trigger a general movement of French agriculture to face climate change? », by Bertrand Valiorgues, professor of strategy and sustainable development at Emlyon Business School
This shift can also give meaning to a whole community of farmers won over by despair. To achieve this, it is necessary to better understand the economic, environmental and social drivers that will allow the change of scale.
Given their very specific function, at the junction between development and research, the experiences developed in the NRPs are very enlightening from this point of view. The original partnerships forged between the PNR of Caps and Marais d’Opale (Pas-de-Calais), the farmers’ association and the research laboratories are quite illustrative of the potential of these approaches.
You have 51.63% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.