Farmer's proximity to organic farming in two cash crop French regions: focus on technical practices, commercial strategies and professional networks

Over the last few years there has been increasing concern about the transition towards organic farming (OF). What are the changes potentially to be made for farmers in the case of a conversion to OF? Depending on the case, this transition is said to be progressive, rapid or abrupt, compared to a given conventional system. Varying degrees of differences exist between conventional and organic systems. Our aim is to characterize the processes of transition by analyzing the extent of changes between conventional and organic systems with a focus on technical practices, commercial strategies and professional networks. The present study is based on the empirical results of surveys on cash crop farmers in two French regions, Île-de-France and Lorraine, willing to develop OF especially for environmental benefits. We develop an analytical framework to evaluate conventional farmers' proximity to OF from a technical, commercial and professional network point of view. To analyze farmers' technical practices, we develop a soring system with principle-based indicators concerning the components of the cropping system. The analysis of commercial proximity to OF is based on relevant criteria concerning the organizational dimension of markets for organic produce. The analysis of the professional network is based on technical exchanges' opportunities, and neighbors' characterization. Results show the diversity of the size of the technical, commercial and professional network leaps to make to reach OF. In the two region studied, we observed a majority of medium and large potential leaps, which highlighted the difficulty for conventional systems to attain OF. Taking into account the interactions between practices, commercial strategies and professional network, this method is complementary to the existing theoretical frameworks of transition to sustainable agriculture. From an operational point of view, it could be useful to adapt the OF development programs in a specific region by identifying barriers and opportunities.