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The framings of the coexistence of agrifood models: a computational analysis of French media

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Abstract

The confrontations of stakeholder visions about agriculture and food production has become a focal point in the public sphere, coinciding with a diversification of agrifood models. This study analyzes the debates stemming from the coexistence of these models, particularly during the initial term of neoliberal-centrist Emmanuel Macron’s presidency in France. Employing collective monitoring from 2017 to 2021, a corpus of 958 online news and blog articles was compiled. Using a computational analysis, we reveal the framings and controversies emerging from this media discourse. The macro-structuring of discourse on model coexistence revolves around scientific, economic and political framings. Coexistence is a complex of debates based on specific frames associated with specific arenas and actor configurations: growth of organic agriculture, transformations of agrifood systems, sciences of production and impacts, livestock and meat diet controversies, agroecological innovations, CAP reform criticism, discourse of peasant agriculture and State-Profession co-gestion. Employing global sentiment analysis and focusing on salient controversies, namely EGAlim law, pesticide regulations, and agribashing, we show the shift from conciliation to a hardening of debates. Finally, we discuss the causes and consequences of this trend. The political will to support the transition of agriculture remains influenced by the co-gestion system, an inherited configuration of decision-makers instrumental in the agricultural modernization. As a consequence, significant agricultural challenges, particularly highlighted in the scientific macro-frame, persist unresolved. This lock-in of the agrifood system is based on defensive strategies that challenge the democratic debate about food and agricultural practices.

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Notes

  1. Alliance pour les chiffres de la presse et des médias (https://www.acpm.fr/) who gathers diverse measures of media audiences which differs due to the nature of sources (digital only, or mix paper/digital) and their accessibility (paid subscriptions).

  2. For instance, the first contributing agricultural source, terre-net, is a digital journal from the Media Data Services company belonging to the ISA group, which also owns two agricultural engineering schools, an agricultural software publisher and many other professional media. This group has been investing since 2011 in Groupe France Agricole (75% of ownership), linked to FNSEA through the Groupe Avril, both were directed by the former president of FNSEA. Chupin and Mayance (2013a) have described how the concentration of this professional press works to the benefit of the majority union, even though some agricultural journalists have attempted to gain autonomy from union control (Chupin and Mayance 2013b).

  3. This NGO is inspired by the Liberation theology.

  4. Named after the Greek goddess “mother of the Earth”, protector of agriculture and harvests. Demeter is also the international trademark used to certify biodynamic farming since 1932. The French representatives of the brand have said they are “dismayed by the choice of the name to identify a cell of the French National Police”, and deplore, despite the search for an amicable solution, “the Ministry’s delaying tactics, clearly part of a deliberately orchestrated confusion around our brand” (Demeter et al. 2019).

Abbreviations

CAP:

Common Agricultural Policy

FNAB:

Fédération Nationale des Agriculteurs Biologiques (National Federation of Organic Farmers)

FNSEA:

Fédération Nationale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricoles (National Federation of Farmer Unions)

HVE:

Certification Haute Valeur Environnementale (High Environmental Value)

JA:

Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Farmers Union)

OA:

Organic Agriculture

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by INRAE’s ACT department. We acknowledge the members of the monitoring team: Sophie Burgel, Nathalie Hostiou, Pascale Karmasyn-Veyrines, Marc Moraine and Sandrine Petit. The authors extend their warm thanks to Kim Agrawal for the quality of his translation and editing of the text.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecodéveloppement, INRAE, 228 Route de l’aérodrome, 84914, Avignon, France

    Guillaume Ollivier

  2. UMR Innovation, University of Montpellier, CIRAD, INRAE, Institut Agro, 34060, Montpellier, France

    Pierre Gasselin

  3. Département-ACT, INRAE, 63122, Saint-Genès-Champanelle, France

    Véronique Batifol

Authors
  1. Guillaume Ollivier
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  2. Pierre Gasselin
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  3. Véronique Batifol
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Correspondence to Guillaume Ollivier.

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Ollivier, G., Gasselin, P. & Batifol, V. The framings of the coexistence of agrifood models: a computational analysis of French media. Agric Hum Values (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10531-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10531-6

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