Marvejols is a small town located in Lozère (France). Traditionally, the region was poor with an agricultural oriented economy. However, by the 1960s a new type of business was launched: the residential care facilities for disabled people, especially in relation to Jacques Blanc, a key person in the organization and development of this business. This economic activity brought jobs and new attractiveness, counterbalancing decline in traditional sectors. Nevertheless, currently, situation is less favourable, and the local players try to find out a new strategy, particularly in relation to diversification. In this study, our main aim was to understand conditions of starting and growing of this business. Moreover, we would like to understand current fragilities and attempts to adapt the economy of the territory. In this way, our students and we have chosen this area in relation to the economic and historical weight of its activity. The organization of field trips and survey was conducted in a comprehensive approach perspective. Therefore, we took account parameters working in this territory, such as strategies, psychologies (individual and collective), networks and identities. Human dimensions are strong, especially in discourses, and our main result is a better understanding of the local situation, with comparisons to close cases (Corrèze, Creuse). Furthermore, the quality of the geographical analysis provides working relations with the stakeholders.

Agricultural machinery manufacturers historically referred to the intermediate players for selling, maintenance, customer service and/or training of equipment appear to interact with farmers and end-users. Intermediate players have therefore faced the burden to master the technology, in constant evolution, and the associated training needs at the interface between a sophisticated equipment and the end-user and its sociological characteristics (age, education, background, etc.). However, the effective deployment of agricultural technologies data augmented equipment demands well trained players. How to ensure that the intermediate players have the required skills to integrate the use of agtech in the farm? This paper will discuss the role of educational and ongoing vocational training for the mastery of agtech. We will start from a comparative review of some key national and European technical reports in the agricultural equipment and innovation domains. On these bases, we will focus on France to describe the role of intermediate players of the agricultural equipment sector to realize their agricultural and digital transitions.

The advantages of shoot tip planting material in banana production are briefly outlined. The production scheme and ongoing research at IRFA/Vitropic are summarised