suggestions
Society and regional strategies
The massive scale of the challenges that the world is facing (e.g., climate change, food insecurity, loss of biodiversity) means that we must completely transform how we structure and manage our agricultural and food production systems at all decision-making scales, from the local level to the global level. Human activities have a key influence on system development.
Towards more sustainable agricultural systems and food systems
INRAE research is exploring the approaches needed to make these systems more sustainable, as well as the hurdles and barriers that are preventing crucial transitions from happening. The institute is analysing and evaluating public policies while also paying particular attention to the logical coherence of potential strategies within different domains (e.g., the economy, society, environment, and public health) and at different decision-making scales (local, national, and international). It is exploring ways to promote the implementation of innovative techniques and structures while never losing sight of the potential impacts on industry economic performance, regional dynamics, relationships among stakeholders, society, health, and the environment.
Human activities have a key influence on system development.
To the greatest extent possible, INRAE uses participatory science to generate novel discoveries and encourage resource contributions. Taken together, this work informs how we think about agricultural, forestry, and food systems, environmental protection methods, and non-food uses for agricultural resources at a wide range of structural levels. It will help design and assess public policies, as well as actions that can be taken by private companies, everyday consumers, and non-governmental organisations. INRAE is developing ambitious interdisciplinary approaches that utilise modelling, quantitative analyses, and case studies. A key aspect of this research is the complementarity of its analytical scales. Consequently, the institute is heavily invested in garnering reliable local, national, and international data. An important part of this work is developing technical platforms for handling the resulting databases, which will make it easier to carry out analyses involving multiple criteria and scales.
Key results
With uncertain future budgets for United Nations food aid, food security for refugee populations can only be achieved when aid is carefully targeted and effective. INRAE researchers and their colleagues recommend taking simultaneous account of both individual and regional- and community-level data to effectively identify households facing food insecurity and/or economic vulnerability. Their research, published in the April issue of Food Security offers new possibilities for shaping food policy.
The Bibliome-MaIAGE team and INRAE's Scientific and Technical Information Delegation (DIST) are contributing to the European OpenMinTeD infrastructure project, the objective of which is to set up an online IT platform, encouraging and facilitating the use of text and data mining technologies for research.
Created by INRAE and the Grabels municipal council, Ici.C.Local is a participatory system which enables the simple labelling in food shops of local short-circuit products that comply with certain sustainability criteria. Protected by a brand name registered by INRAE, this system is now entering a new stage, that of its deployment through the creation of a collective structure that will support local partners regarding its implementation.
Our fields of research
Our research looks at agroecological, food, energy and digital transitions, including the processes involved in converting to organic farming as well as regional land and water management, soil uses and social justice. Our work also deals with assessing the impacts of our research for society and public policies in our areas of expertise.
> Read reports and emblematic cases from our research in these areas. New issues will regularly be posted for this topic.
