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5 - Industrial organisation and sustainability
- Edited by Catherine Esnouf, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Marie Russel, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Nicolas Bricas, Centre de Co-opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Paris
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- Book:
- Food System Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
- Print publication:
- 25 April 2013, pp 101-114
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Summary
A large proportion of foods are produced today by industrial chains that are confronted by numerous challenges. Like all industries, they need to integrate new requirements relative to the environment and sustainability into their activities. Yet they are also subject to major trends, affecting both final consumption and agricultural production. Indeed, on the one hand, consumers (or at least some of them) are expressing new demands relative to food and how it is produced. On the other hand, current trends at the agricultural level may suggest possible changes in the availability, supply regularity and prices of agricultural raw materials. Finally, the competition in which companies are involved at national, European or international levels raises questions as to evolution in their medium and longer term competitiveness.
The aim of this chapter is to review some of the important features of past evolutions and of the technological and economic ‘model’ upon which they were based. It is thus ‘agri-industrial systems’, as defined in Chapter 4, which are addressed here. We will then try to identify, in terms of sustainability, the principal challenges faced by these industrial chains, and finally to clarify a certain number of important themes that need to be investigated in future research programmes in order to enlighten public and private decision-making in this field.
4 - Food systems
- Edited by Catherine Esnouf, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Marie Russel, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Paris, Nicolas Bricas, Centre de Co-opération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement (CIRAD), Paris
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- Book:
- Food System Sustainability
- Published online:
- 05 April 2013
- Print publication:
- 25 April 2013, pp 69-100
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Summary
This chapter focuses on food systems using an innovative dual approach. First of all, by considering them in interaction with energy and chemical systems within ecosystems, it poses the question of resource allocation (land and biomass). Second, a socioeconomic approach then highlights the diversity of these food systems. Different types of systems co-exist and reflect different ways of producing, processing, distributing and consuming food products. The ‘global’ food system is a constantly changing combination of these different types of systems, all of which influence each other.
Thanks to this dual approach to food systems, new research questions have emerged. New analytical frameworks would enable a clearer understanding of the interconnections between food systems within ecosystems, on the one hand, and their diversity and constant recombination on the other.
Introduction
Referring to the pioneering work of Malassis (1996), Rastoin et al. (2010) defined a food system (FS) as
an interdependent network of stakeholders (companies, financial institutions, public and private organisations) localised in a given geographical area (region, state, multinational region), participating directly or indirectly in the creation of a flow of goods and services geared towards satisfying the food needs of one or more groups of consumers, both locally and outside the area considered.