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‘I am an Intensive Guy’: The Possibility and Conditions of Reconciliation Through the Ecological Intensification Framework

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Abstract

The need for better conciliation between food production and environmental protection calls for new conceptual approaches in agronomy. Ecological intensification (EI) is one of the most encouraging and successful conceptual frameworks for designing more sustainable agricultural systems, though relying upon semantic ambivalences and epistemic tensions. This article discusses abilities and limits of the EI framework in the context of strong social and environmental pressure for agricultural transition. The purpose is thus to put EI at stake in the light of the results of an interdisciplinary and participatory research project that explicitly adopted EI goals in livestock semi-industrialized farming systems. Is it possible to maintain livestock production systems that are simultaneously productive, sustainable, and viable and have low nitrate emissions in vulnerable coastal areas? If so, how do local stakeholders use these approaches? The main steps of the innovation process are described. The effects of political and social dynamics on the continuity of the transition process are analyzed, with a reflexive approach. This experiment invites one to consider that making EI operational in a context of socio-technical transition toward agroecology represents system innovation, requiring on-going dialogue, reflexivity, and long-term involvement by researchers.

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Notes

  1. For a global report of increasing coastal eutrophication phenomena throughout the world, see Selman et al. (2008).

  2. Green tides are massive macroalgal blooms generally involving species of the genus Ulva.

  3. Litigation between the European Commission and France concerning the application of European Directives started in 1992 and has led to several convictions.

  4. ACASSYA (2009–2013): ‘Accompagner l'évolution agro-écologique des systèmes d'élevage sur les bassins versants côtiers’: Supporting agro-ecological evolution in livestock farming in coastal watersheds.

  5. For a stimulating discussion of the properties of this type of research framework, see Cerf (2011). We assume that participatory research is per se an action-research.

  6. Detailed presentation of the project and its results are in: www.acassya.fr and Gascuel et al. (2015).

  7. Namely, an ethnographic study performed from 2011–2014 with project stakeholders: primarily farmers, researchers and public managers. This research gave locally involved researchers an opportunity to have a retrospective and reflexive perspective on their experience.

  8. Though annual algal biomass is varies greatly, Lieue de Grève Bay often generates 33–50 % of the total algal biomass collected in Brittany each summer, which is usually 50,000–100,000 t.

  9. Other permanent-crop systems without bare soils during the drainage period were considered, but lack of available knowledge and references about them led to a focus on grassland.

  10. Since direct measurement of future concentrations was not possible, however, it was replaced by predicted concentrations.

  11. The nine farmers involved received financial aid to compensate the time they spent recording data on their farms (around 1300€/farm/year), and the intervention of an engineering office specialized in pasture management was also financed by the local government (2900€/farm/year). Most of the farms also received financial support from the “Plan algues vertes”, given to farmers who volunteer to buy new equipment and restore fields.

  12. The reluctance of prominent agro-industries to get involved in such initiatives—and, more broadly, in political attempts to combat green tides—was also a major impediment: their participation was a key to success, but local stakeholders struggled (and mostly failed) to mobilize and rally them.

  13. The term “alternative farmers” is often used locally for non-conventional farmers, that is, organic farmers and farmers affiliated with the Centre d’étude pour un développement agricole plus autonome (CEDAPA), a local professional organization promoting grass-based systems with low inputs.

  14. See in particular: L’Hirondel and L’Hirondel (1996), as well as notes published on the website of the Institut de l’Environnement et de la Santé (http://www.institut-environnement.fr/).

  15. The controversy nevertheless remains active and is regularly mentioned by Lieue de Grève farmers: due to the non-linear relationship between N flows and algal biomass, the significant efforts made in farming practices have not yet reduced green tides. This is disheartening, and some farmers thus question this relationship in many ways.

  16. AEI website, accessed on 24 March 2014 (http://www.aei-asso.org/fr).

  17. In 2011, a Chair of Sustainable Intensive Agriculture was created as part of a partnership between the three major agronomic and veterinary higher-education institutions in western France and three major agri-food firms. INRA joined the partnership the following year, and a dialogue with the International Association for Intensive Agriculture, chaired by Michel Griffon, was opened.

  18. Governance of agricultural issues is still mainly based on a dialogue between the main farmers’ union (FNSEA) and the Ministry of Agriculture.

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Acknowledgments

A. Levain’s social anthropology thesis received funding from the Eaux et Territoires program of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy as part of the Project Agepeau (Agriculture à l’épreuve des politiques d’eau—Agriculture put to the test of water policies) and from the Grand Projet 5 of the Contrat de Projet Etat-Région Bretagne devoted to restoring water quality. We would like to thank all the partners of the ANR ACASSYA Project (ANR-08-STRA-01, http://www.acassya.fr), particularly Lannion Trégor Agglomération, the Lieue de Grève farmers, and all the participants in the working group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INRA, UMR 1326, Laboratory for Interdisciplinary Studies of Science, Innovation and Society (LISIS), 77420, Champs-sur-Marne, France

    Alix Levain & Marc Barbier

  2. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR 7206 Eco-anthropology & Ethnobiology, 75005, Paris, France

    Alix Levain

  3. INRA, UMR 1069 SAS, Soil Agro and Hydrosystem Spatialization, 35000, Rennes, France

    Françoise Vertès, Laurent Ruiz & Chantal Gascuel-Odoux

  4. Agrocampus Ouest, UMR 1069 SAS, Soil Agro and Hydrosystem Spatialization, 35000, Rennes, France

    Françoise Vertès, Laurent Ruiz, Luc Delaby & Chantal Gascuel-Odoux

  5. INRA, UMR 1348 PEGASE, Physiology, Environment and Genetics for Animal and Livestock Farming Systems, 35590, Saint-Gilles, France

    Luc Delaby

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  1. Alix Levain
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  2. Françoise Vertès
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Correspondence to Alix Levain.

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Levain, A., Vertès, F., Ruiz, L. et al. ‘I am an Intensive Guy’: The Possibility and Conditions of Reconciliation Through the Ecological Intensification Framework. Environmental Management 56, 1184–1198 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0548-3

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