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Abstract: Abstract In Europe, payment for environmental services is increasingly perceived as an alternative to government-led incentives for promoting pro-environmental land use and attaining policy objectives of groundwater quality and quantity. The processes linking land-use decisions and ecosystem services related to aquifers (EcSA) are complex, involving different time and space scales. This raises specific challenges for the effectiveness of payment for environmental services related to aquifers (PEvSA). After defining the concepts of PEvSA, we highlight these challenges—uncertain links between land use and EcSA, spatial and temporal dimensions, monitoring and compliance issues, the invisibility of aquifers and the social equity/efficiency dilemma—and identify good practice and innovative designs for addressing them. We then review how existing PEvSA schemes throughout the world have succeeded, or not, in addressing these challenges and identify evidence of their effectiveness. We conclude that future implementation of PEvSA should pursue (i) the use of science-based approaches for determining land-use prescription; (ii) the adoption of result-oriented payments adapted to PEvSA; (iii) the use of longer term contracts adapted to water transfer time in aquifers; (iv) a finer spatial targeting of PEvSA; (v) the use of contracts with collective conditionality; and (vi) the labelling of products that generate EcSA as ways for stimulating demand. We finally call for establishing formal evidence of the impact of PEvSA on EcSA. PubDate: 2023-05-31
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Abstract: Abstract In the face of growing demand for local products, farmers are developing direct sales. Our research examines the impact of this strategy on farms’ sustainability. Focusing on the market gardening sector, we compare metropolitan France and its overseas departments: Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Reunion. These insular economies must meet national and European requirements for healthy and local production while complying with specific organizational and geographic conditions. If direct selling is considered an innovation, we first identify the factors, such as characteristics of farmers and their farm, determining its adoption. While establishing the link between such an innovation and performance, we study the impact of direct sales on farms’ sustainability, inspired by the IDEA method. We use representative farm data from 2010 and 2016 and perform a propensity score matching coupled with a difference-in-difference analysis. While the impact of direct sales on sustainability is effective in metropolitan France, more nuanced results are observed in insular economies. Whatever the location, direct sales provide a response to consumers’ expectations in terms of product diversification. While direct sales are initially associated with product processing and tourism, these activities are gradually abandoned, in particular, because of the skills necessary to their realization. In metropolitan France, direct selling modifies the relationship with certifications by developing organic production to the detriment of other types of certification. It is also accompanied by output and employment growth. Our results question the role that the environment in which farmers evolve plays in the sustainability dynamics of farms in island economies. PubDate: 2023-05-26
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Abstract: Abstract Individual subsidy payments that are conditional on a collective contribution threshold could provide a viable resolution to the insufficient and dispersed adoption of agri-environmental contracts aiming at attaining environmental quality targets. Indeed, in a decontextualized laboratory experiment based on a threshold public goods game (TPGG), Le Coent et al. (2014) offer promising results regarding a conditional subsidy compared to an unconditional subsidy (i.e., the standard subsidy in existing agri-environmental schemes). In this article, we propose to improve the external validity of these results by transposing this laboratory experiment to a lab-in-the-field setting with farmers. To do so, we carry out a contextualized lab-in-the-field experiment with farmers by explicitly mentioning agri-environmental contracts and water quality. Our results show that farmers cooperate even more successfully than students and sustain more efficient outcomes over time. In a between-subject comparison, our results indicate that average group contributions under the conditional and the unconditional subsidy mechanisms are not significantly different. We find that this is due to two behavioral responses (perceived risks and initial beliefs on others’ contributions) in the conditional subsidy treatment, which show to have opposing effects on contributions that cancel each other out. The conditional incentive mechanism thus shows promising potential as a tool for agri-environmental policy since it avoids the pay-for-nothing trap of the unconditional subsidy mechanism without discouraging contributions. PubDate: 2023-05-26
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Abstract: Abstract Encouraged to design a more agroecological livestock system, farmers today must develop new practices to address herd health management. They must do this on their farms, alongside other farmers, but also with the support of various livestock professionals, such as veterinarians and agricultural advisers, each with their own skills and knowledge. This article analyses how these farmers enlist the aid of different professionals in their quest for a more agroecological approach to herd health management. Drawing on a conceptual framework, based on the prescription relationship concept, we refer to all the professionals involved as a “prescription system”. The qualitative analysis of the 26 interviews conducted with French dairy farmers involved in an agroecological approach reveals five types of prescription systems: (i) one structured around the farm work collective and a few trusted prescribers; (ii) one organised around farmers seeking prescribers and concrete solutions; (iii) one extended around an autonomous operator; (iv) one oriented towards prescribers capable of promoting transition by encouraging discussions around health; (v) one designed to promote precise and technical herd health management. The question, then, is how do these different systems provide farmers with learning opportunities in their quest for agroecological approaches to health management' The extent to which these systems influence farmers’ representations of health management, and the manner in which the latter’s perceptions of health help to shape these systems, therefore appears to be worth exploring. PubDate: 2023-05-09
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Abstract: Abstract As of the 1980s, the European Court of Justice and infringement proceedings have become important instruments for the European Commission to encourage Member States to comply with European environmental law. This article examines how such compliance is achieved, through a case study of the infringement proceedings against France relating to the contamination of several rivers containing nitrates in the 1990s–2000s. It shows that compliance with European environmental law can be analysed as the result of a process during which the meaning of European norms and the modes of compliance with said norms are debated. This, being a lengthy process, gives actors the opportunity to play with time, particularly with a view to obtaining new extensions and renegotiating the interpretation and conditions of the application of norms. This may result in a gradual dilution of the rule of law, in as much as its modes of application can be made considerably more flexible. PubDate: 2023-05-04
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Abstract: Abstract Because of its capacity to provide numerous ecosystem services, agriculture is an essential lever in the fight against climate change and the preservation of biodiversity. However, trade-offs between economic strategies and environmental outputs, as well as between environmental challenges themselves, remain an important issue. In this paper, we seek to better understand how the different stakeholders manage these contradictions, based on a specific case study exploring the potential of setting up a local and voluntary carbon market in Western France involving farmers, companies, and local authorities. Applying a survey approach, we identify and discuss the preferences and trade-offs made by the potential stakeholders of this scheme. Our results show a strong preference for solutions that emphasize the provision of environmental co-benefits (biodiversity and landscapes) rather than strict carbon storage. We also show that criteria such as the duration of commitment or the scope given to the length of committed hedges are important components of stakeholders’ preferences. Our results allow us to discuss the potential of different types of market systems, depending on traceability, governance, control method, and technical support, in relation to the respondents’ heterogeneous preferences. PubDate: 2023-04-25
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Abstract: Abstract Mitigating climate change through the adoption of environmental-friendly agricultural practices also affects biodiversity and the provision of other non-marketed ecosystem services (hereafter, ES). In this paper, we investigate a method to identify cost-effective strategies to improve the provision of these ES. We model the link between agricultural practices and the provision of ES, to illustrate the general antagonism between agricultural production and the provision of non-marketed ES, as well as synergies among the latter. We run efficiency analyses on the simulated agroecological data to explore the interactions among ES and identify efficient bundles of ES. Improving the provision of non-marketed ES comes at a cost in terms of production. The bundle of ES provided by an alternative management option has an opportunity cost corresponding to the profit loss compared to the most profitable management option. We determine which strategy costs less to improve the provision of non-marketed ES: to adopt a given set of agroecological practices over the whole agricultural area, or to dedicate only a part of the landscape to the provision of the non-marketed ES. This result is helpful to determine if agroenvironmental policies should target large areas with uniform low requirements, or several smaller areas with higher environmental conditions. It can be used to determine cost-effective ways to mitigate climate change through agricultural practices reducing greenhouse gases emissions and increasing carbon storage in soil while maintaining other ES. PubDate: 2023-03-31
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Abstract: Abstract Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a French epistemic community has forged and promoted a Biodiversity/Health nexus, which legitimizes biodiversity as a health issue. The relationship between biodiversity and health is now part of French local government agendas, after being included in new international programs. Based on observation of this nexus’s epistemic community and 35 semi-structured interviews conducted in France between 2017 and 2020, this article aims to show which actors and groups have been forging and promoting this nexus, and to understand how such an emergent environmental nexus challenges the governance of the present biomedical- and technical expertise-based health system. This article discusses environmental nexus from the perspective of building a new cause by reconstituting chains of causality to “demonstrate” the new problem (Barthe, Politix, 23(91), 77–102, 2010), and the growing importance of integration of concepts as a new ideal of policy-making (Cairns & Krzywoszynska, Environmental Science and Policy, 64, 164–170, 2016). As well as a justification (Boltanski & Thevenot, 1991) of their effectiveness in legitimizing the cause of defending biodiversity, environmental nexuses contain a challenge to recognize knowledge, calling for a change in governance methods in a One Health approach. PubDate: 2023-03-07
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Abstract: Abstract Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) direct aids are playing an essential role in supporting the income of many European farmers. This situation, the result of political choices made during successive reforms of the policy since 1992, raises the question of the appropriateness of the CAP as a means of supporting agricultural income. After a brief review of the contribution of direct payments to farm income in different European member states, we examine the effectiveness of decoupled direct aids, which constitute the bulk of direct payments, in supporting farm income. We raise the question of the legitimacy of the CAP to support farm income given that the measurement of the latter is a complex issue and that many authors consider that the CAP’s decoupled payments have no real justification. PubDate: 2023-03-01
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Abstract: Abstract What can we, as sociologists, do with radical political criticism' The publication of the book Reprendre la terre aux machines (Reclaiming the land from the machines) by the cooperative L’Atelier Paysan (2021) offers a particular answer to this age-old question. The starting point of this “manifesto for peasant and food autonomy” is the authors’ dissatisfaction with the results of their own efforts. The aim of this paper is then to address the following question: are hedgerows, and with them all those who defend their greater consideration in agricultural policies, the “useful idiots” of the dominant agricultural model' The discussion is therefore organised in two stages. Firstly, it presents the arguments showing that hedgerows can support consensual ecologisation that marginalises a more profound transformation of the agricultural economy. Secondly, however, it then explores the limitations of this position by arguing that if greening via hedgerows is indeed marginal, it is not reduced to being a useful idiot but participates in ecologisation from the margins. The main lesson of this paper is to highlight the benefits for sociology to take seriously the political analyses of stakeholders, not only as objects of study but also as sparks to inspire the sociological imagination. PubDate: 2023-02-06
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Abstract: Abstract A growing interest in local food systems in the form of local initiatives and policies is spreading in Europe as a response to the unsustainability of the industrial food system. Researchers call this phenomenon a “food systems transition” (FST). The extent to which these trends are socially inclusive remains contested. The study analyses the shape of low-income consumer (LIC) participation in FST and the factors playing a favourable role in this process. In a given area of Rennes region (Brittany, France) ranging from urban to rural, all the AMAPs (as illustrations of FST initiatives) and social inclusion initiatives such as social grocery shops (as an illustration of LIC inclusion through food) were analysed thanks to semi-directive interviews with responsible persons. We detailed the factors influencing social inclusion in FST initiatives and the presence of FST elements in social assistance organisms. Social inclusion appears rather absent in the former, priority being given to the current stability of the initiative and to other ethical dimensions. FST elements are gaining a prominent place in the latter, either accidentally or as a desired part of the assistance strategy. It is through partnerships with one another that some rare structures engage in a socially inclusive FST. Social and cultural capitals are necessary for LIC to get involved in the FST and claim more food justice. PubDate: 2023-02-01
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Abstract: Abstract The Office National des Forêts (ONF) in France uses sequential auctions to sell a significant portion of timber from public forests. This mechanism, based on a competitive dynamic between buyers, relies on randomization at two key moments: at the start of the sale, to determine the order in which timber lots are auctioned, and at the end, to break ties between bidders who submit identical offers. This article explains why, from the sociological perspective of markets, this informal institution, which was introduced at the request of municipalities and some buyers to ensure equal treatment, is not legitimized by the ONF. It examines whether participants’ perceptions are consistent with patterns of auction prices through an empirical analysis of bid data from these sales. The article also investigates the reasons why the ONF has been randomly selecting winners in cases of tied bids for over two centuries and, more recently, with the digitalization of sales, has opted for a new market device based on the order in which offers were submitted. PubDate: 2023-01-06
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Abstract: Abstract This paper critically analyses the complexity of the land grabbing phenomenon in Argentina. We study land grabbing processes linked to the expansion of agribusiness by focusing on corporate regionally extended land grabbers’ strategies through five dimensions: (1) forms of control over land (and other resources) are not restricted to the formal acquisition of property, (2) the role of both national and foreign actors are essential in land grabbing dynamics, (3) land grabbing is not expressed exclusively by the scale of the area traded, (4) the current cycle of land grabbing is part of the convergence of multiple crises and (5) forms of political action are complex and involve diverse positioning. We conclude that land grabbing mechanisms unfold differently depending on the diversity of socio-spatial formations they encounter in each territory and that forms of political action “from below” are complex and not restricted to overt conflict. PubDate: 2023-01-05
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Abstract: Abstract The goal of this study is to assess the strength and mode of price dependence by time scale, among the extra virgin olive oil markets of Italy, Spain, and Greece. These three Mediterranean countries are responsible for 95% of olive oil production within the European Union and they account for more than 50% of the olive oil exports worldwide. For the empirical analysis, monthly prices from the aforementioned countries are utilized along with the tools of discrete wavelets and non-parametric copulas. Results indicate that (a) price linkages in the short run are significantly different from those in the longer run, with price dependence being stronger in the longer run, and (b) in the very long run, price shocks of the same sign but of different magnitude are transmitted from Italy to Spain with a higher probability than they are transmitted from Italy to Greece. Accordingly, the time scale affects the intensity as well as the pattern of dependence, pointing this way to asymmetric price co-movement. Regarding the integration of the three markets, the finding of asymmetric co-movement is not consistent with well-integrated markets. PubDate: 2022-12-20
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