Workshop 4 – Sustainability and geographic indiactions

Moderation: François Casabianca (National Institute of Agricultural Research in France – INRA). Co-organization: Dominique Barjolle (Department of Agriculture and Viticulture of the Canton of Vaud – SAVI)

A major challenge for AOP-IGP is to find a virtuous balance between an attractive economic return for the actors in the sectors, and the risk of specialization and intensification generated by economic incentives when they are strong. The terms of reference and governance mechanisms are « tools » that GI actors can mobilize to gain both social and environmental sustainability. The sustainability assessment tools can then play an important role in these regulatory mechanisms and open up new paths for improvement.

The strictly economistic view of GIs is reaching its limits, focusing on the aspects of protection and niche creation in competitive markets. In order to engage in the progress that needs to be made and to achieve the necessary balances over resources and social issues over the long term, GI management organizations must be able to make trade-offs between the different dimensions of sustainability and to go beyond short-term considerations.

The political and societal injunction of sustainable development leads, at the scientific and technical levels, to underly the importance of starting the evaluation in a temporal perspective and analyzing the trajectories, by aiming at participative modalities that can incite the actors to an improvement loop in a shared vision.

The objective of the workshop is to put into perspective different approaches, in different contexts and for different purposes, to illuminate the ways in which GIs evolve towards greater sustainability. The collective discussion will focus on the respective interest of these different approaches in assessing the impacts of GIs and on the ability to grasp the dynamic dimension of sustainability.

Program

Introduction of the works (François Casabianca, INRA)

• Context and objectives of the workshop
• Timeline of the work

First Part: Presentations

• Emilia Schmitt: Comparison of sustainability and « locality » indicators between PDO and non-PDO products in Europe.
• Hanna Forster: Sustainability Trajectories: a reading by the modifications of the PDO-PGI specifications in Europe.
• Guillén Calvo: The participatory dimension of assessing the impacts of GIs, based on examples of implementation in Colombia.
• Emilie Vandecandelaere: Does the evaluation of the economic dimension show synergies or contradictions with the other dimensions of sustainability? From case studies at the global level.

Second Part temps : round table with professionals and people in charge for the registration and the promotion of GIs

Among the participants registered in the workshop, we will solicit the experience of some (5 mn each):

• Feedback from the OFAG and his vision for such work: Paolo De Giorgi
• Contribution from a member of the federal PDO-PGI commission: Carine Cornaz
• Testimony on the various impacts of Feta PDO in Thessaly: Dimitra Gaki
• The perspective of sustainability at the international level in the Lisbon register: Alexandra Grazioli, WIPO
• OriGIn’s point of view based on an ongoing reflection on « strategies for sustainability of GIs ».

Reactions of some PDO-PGI interprofessional leaders in Switzerland. General discussion with all participants in the workshop.

Quick synthesis of the workshop: Dominique Barjolle, SAVI and ETHZ

Workshop 3 – Participatory certification

Moderation: Florence Arsonneau (Diversities & Development)

Nowadays, consumers tend to be more demanding of the products they buy, while being less available and more distant from the agricultural world. In this context, consumers and producers put in place strategies (certifications, purchasing groups, etc.) through which they share common values and build trust, thereby facilitating access to the market for quality products and their consumption.

Participatory Guarantee Systems are locally oriented quality assurance systems. They certify the producers on the basis of an active participation of the actors concerned and are built on a basis of trust, networks and exchanges of knowledge (Definition of IFOAM).

PGSs have developed independently in different countries and cultural contexts, to respond to the varied problems faced by organic producers. Even though these PGSs have developed independently and for different reasons, and if they implement their biological guarantee processes in a variety of ways, they share a number of common features.

The objective of this workshop is to present different examples of local participatory certifications and to exchange concretely on the keys to setting up and operating such strategies of guarantees and market access for quality products.

Dans quel contexte est-il intéressant de mettre en place un SPG ? Quelles sont les caractéristiques communes des certifications participatives ? Quels sont les avantages et points d’attention d’une certification autodéterminée et autogérée entre producteurs et consommateurs ? Quel est l’intérêt d’impliquer le consommateur dans tout le processus ? Comment se passe la « négociation » entre consommateurs et producteurs et comment assurer le respect du cahier des charges ?

Les intervenants de cet atelier présenteront des exemples concrets de certification participative, en place et en cours de mis en place.

In what context is it interesting to set up a PGS? What are the common characteristics of participatory certifications? What are the advantages and points of attention of a self-determined and self-managed certification between producers and consumers? What is the point of involving the consumer in the whole process? How is the « negotiation » between consumers and producers and how to ensure compliance with the specifications?

The speakers of this workshop will present concrete examples of participatory certification, in place and in progress.

Program

First Part: Presentations

• Federica Varini (PSG Project Coordinator – IFOAM – Organics International): IFOAM – Organics International’s work on PSGs and good practices in mountain regions

• Annie Melloukie (Network of Agroecological Initiatives in Morocco / project leader) and Mustapha Belharcha (Shoul BIO Producer Network (RADERS) / Producer): Establishment of a PSG for agroecology farm products close to Rabat (Morocco) – partnership with CIRAD

• Dimitra Gaki, Rural Space Laboratory (University of Thessaly): PSG, a tool of a territorial cluster to promote pastoral livestock farming
• Philipe PIARD, Nature et Progrès, Producer: Operation and organization of a citizen guarantee – Nature & Progrès – PSG local and national

Second part: Round table

Workshop participants are invited to share their experiences and initiatives with stakeholders, to discuss the processes of setting up and running participatory certification.

The space proposed in this workshop should help to answer questions about the interest, the functioning and the difficulties that can be encountered in the context of participatory certifications.

Workshop 2 – The culinary heritage of the Alps (in English)

Moderation: Alexandre Fricker (Slow Food Switzerland). Co-organization: Josef Zisyadis (Slow Food Switzerland) and Alessandra Roversi (independent consultant in gastronomy and local products)

Description available soon

Workshop 1 – Labelling the mountain and valorising its products

Moderation: Thomas Egger (SAB). Co-organization: Marie Clotteau (Euromontana, European Association of Mountain Areas), Olivier Beucherie (Master Food Identity of the Higher School of Agriculture of Angers-ESA) and Alice Dos Santos (Origin for Sustainability – O4S)

Agriculture has a central role in the development of mountainous territories. On the one hand, it provides ecosystem services – such as conserving biodiversity-rich semi-natural habitats (European Environment Agency, 2010) and, on the other hand, it contributes to the economy of mountain communities and shapes their identity (Mitchley, Price, & Tzanopoulos, 2006). Mountain agriculture is strongly characterized by demanding environmental conditions – rugged topography, access difficulties, reduced vegetative seasons – but also by a rich biodiversity. To adapt to this environment, mountain farmers have been able to develop diversified and low-input production systems. Their agricultural practices and ancestral know-how have resulted in a wide variety of food products (Price, Byers, Friend, Kohler, & Price, 2013). Thus the valorization of mountain food products is of primary importance for the mountain communities. Valorising on the quality of mountain products allows the creation of added value during their sale and therefore helps to maintain and sustain agricultural activity in the mountains (EuroMARC, 2009, FAO, 2013).

To valorise their products, mountain stakeholders have developed various strategies, labelling is one of them (McMorran et al., 2015). There is a wide variety of quality schemes and certifications related to mountain products: public or private, related to the mountain in general or to a specific soil, carried by a sector or a distributor, etc. The workshop will aim to discuss the role of labelling in the construction of sustainable mountain food systems and will be structured around three objectives:

1. Enhancement of different certifications of mountain products and their functions
2. Analysis of the difficulties encountered and to be overcome
3. Highlighting future avenues of work and possibly initiatives that could be developed jointly

Program

• Introduction (Thomas Egger, SAB)
• Flash presentations of concrete examples
• Discussions

• How to organize the actors of a sector and a territory?
  • Build governance tools (specifications, value-added distribution mechanisms)
  • Ressources
  • Collective commitment
  • Link to the territory
• How to reach and integrate consumers into a labelling process
  • Development of a marketing strategy: construction of a participative approach, education, identification of sales channels, prices, etc
  • Create communication tools: advertising, website, …
• Which legal and institutional framework is needed to best support this process?
  • Incentives and official recognition of products
  • Sanitary
  • Sale
  • Traceability and fraud

• Synthesis of the workshop (Olivier Beucherie, Master Food Identity of the Higher School of Agriculture of Angers – ESA)
• And now ? What actions after the workshop? (Marie Clotteau, Euromontana)

References

1. (2009). Designation and promotion of mountain quality food products in Europe: policy recommendations (p. 36). European Mountain Agrofood products, Retailing and Consumers – VIth RTD Framework Programme, European Commission.
2. European Environment Agency (Éd.). (2010). Europe’s ecological backbone: recognising the true value of our mountains. Luxembourg: Off. for Off. Publ. of the Europ. Union. Consulté à l’adresse http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/europes-ecological-backbone
3. FAO (Éd.). (2013). Mountain farming is family farming: a contribution from mountain areas to the International Year of Family Farming 2014. Rome: FAO.
4. McMorran, R., Santini, F., Guri, F., Gomez-y-Paloma, S., Price, M., Beucherie, O., … Cloye, G. (2015). A mountain food label for Europe? Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de Géographie Alpine. https://doi.org/10.4000/rga.2654
5. Mitchley, J., Price, M. F., & Tzanopoulos, J. (2006). Integrated futures for Europe’s mountain regions: Reconciling biodiversity conservation and human livelihoods. Journal of Mountain Science, 3(4), 276‑ https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-006-0276-5
6. Price, M. F., Byers, A. C., Friend, D. A., Kohler, T., & Price, L. W. (2013). Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions. Univ of California Press.