Sortie de l'agriculture biologique : ampleur du phénomène en France et processus en jeu au niveau des exploitations agricoles | Exit from organic farming: extent of deregistration in France and processes in play on farms.
2012
Madelrieux, S. | Alavoine-Mornas, Françoise,
In European countries, the much-vaunted success of organic farming hides more complex dynamics in which there is a growing turnover of organic farmers. We are far from the targets for organic production set by many European governments, and the incentives do not seem sufficient to secure the organic sector in the long run. Both research and policy measures to help the development of organic farming have mostly focused until recently on conversions to organic farming rather than on its maintenance. Yet the maintenance of organic farming seems essential to promoting organic production. The present study investigates withdrawal from organic farming in France: (i) its extent, as numerical data are lacking in the national statistics, and (ii) the processes that cause farmers to leave the organic sector, and their subsequent paths. From data provided by Agence Bio on the number of farmers who withdrew from organic certification between 2005 and 2010, we give an overview of movements out of organic farming throughout France. From a case study in Rhône-Alpes, we show the processes in play and the different places and meanings that exits from organic farming have in the paths of individuals and farms as regards organic farming. Our findings show that withdrawal is still of limited extent in France, but raises questions about future outcomes, and reveals a diversity of exit processes that question different aspects of the “organic farming system”: mode of certification, dilution of standards, what being an organic farmer entails, system securing, and the transmission of organic farming values and practices.
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