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Towards sustainable farming systems: Effectiveness and deficiency of the French procedure of sustainable agriculture |
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| Authors: | Mohamed Gafsi Bruno Legagneux Genevive Nguyen Patrice Robin |
| Institution: | aUMR “Dynamiques Rurales”, Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique, BP 22687, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France bUMR “Dynamiques Rurales”, Institut National Polytechnique – Ecole Nationale Supérieure Agronomique de Toulouse, BP 32607, 31326 Castanet-Tolosan, France |
| Abstract: | There is a widespread consensus about the importance of sustainable agriculture. In France, the Farming Orientation Law of July 1999 has set down a precise procedure for the implementation of sustainable agriculture: the contrat territorial d’exploitation – or territorial farm contract (TFC). This paper aims to analyse the TFC effectiveness. An analysis has been made of the TFCs signed in the Midi-Pyrenees Region in south-western France, using statistical analysis and qualitative surveys of a sample of farms. The results show that the most valuable effects have been mainly economic. Effects regarding social and environmental aspects were very limited. But from the point of view of an integrated approach, indirect effects of TFCs can be observed on social and environmental aspects. These results are explained, on the one hand, by farmers’ motivations guided by economic objectives, and on the other hand, by the dominance of professional farming organisations in the implementation of TFC’s procedure. Given these results, two ways of improving the elaboration procedure for TFCs are proposed. Firstly, technical improvements can be made to the diagnostic assessment of farms, and to the choice of actions addressed by the contract. Secondly, organisational improvements can be applied to TFCs elaboration and implementation process, in order to adopt a participatory approach which would involve all rural stakeholders. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable agriculture Farming systems Territorial farming contract Effectiveness |
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