Spatial Determinants of Organic Farming and Local Opportunities for Sales Outlets: The Cases of Alfalfa and Sugarbeet in the Ile-de-France Region

Abstract

The conversion of conventional farms to organic farming is a challenge with regard both to solving or preventing environmental problems, and to satisfying consumers’ growing demand. In this article, the dynamics of organic agriculture in relation to local outlets are analyzed together with the role of those outlets in the territorial development of organic farming. A comprehensive approach was adopted based on surveys conducted on farmers and actors in the agricultural sector applied to the scale of the Ile-de-France region. Two crops, emblematic of problems of structuring supply chains in relation to technical problems, were studied: sugarbeet, considered to be an impediment to conversion because of the absence of organic markets, and alfalfa, seen as an ideal gateway to organic farming systems, but which finds limited outlets in areas with few livestock farms. We show how opportunities for local outlets can play on the development dynamics of organic farming on a regional scale. We then identify leeway for developing organic systems by finding compromises with these two crops. Finally, we discuss the interest of studying these opportunities for local outlets as possible determinants of conversions, which can contribute to explaining the local geography of organic agriculture in a given region.

Keywords:

• organic agriculture
• local outlets
• spatial determinants
• sugarbeet
• alfalfa

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Marie Garin and Aline Lambert for their participation in this study, through their Agroparistech engineering project on organic sugarbeet, and for the organization of the round table.

Notes

Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at http://www.tandfonline.com/wjsa

1. Bibliographical research using the keywords "organic farming" and "outlet", run on the Web of Knowledge database, yielded few results (only 57 references). The issue of outlets from farmers’ point of view is rarely addressed per se. It is sometimes mentioned in the case of lack of structuring in the supply chain or to point out the diversity of possible modes of commercialization for organic products. No specific studies were identified on opportunities for outlets in a particular territory, and possible differentiation between farmers and geographic sectors.

2. Landscape agronomy was recently proposed as a discipline to build bridges between agronomists, geographers and ecologists, and aimed primarily at exploring the links between landscapes and agricultural production systems.