1. Why are grain-legumes rarely present in cropping systems despite their environmental and nutritional benefits? Analyzing lock-in in the French agrifood system
- Author
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Célia Cholez, Guénaëlle Corre-Hellou, Gérard Duc, Stéphane Walrand, Marc Anton, Marie-Hélène Jeuffroy, Marie-Benoît Magrini, Elise Pelzer, Anne-Sophie Voisin, Jean-Marc Meynard, AGroécologie, Innovations, teRritoires (AGIR), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) (Toulouse INP), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Unité de recherche sur les Biopolymères, Interactions Assemblages (BIA), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Energie (ADEME), Ecole Supérieure d'Agricultures d'Angers (ESA d'Angers), Agroécologie [Dijon], Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université de Bourgogne (UB)-AgroSup Dijon - Institut National Supérieur des Sciences Agronomiques, de l'Alimentation et de l'Environnement, Agronomie, AgroParisTech-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Université Paris Saclay (COmUE), Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement : Activités, Produits, Territoires (SADAPT), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech, Unité de Nutrition Humaine (UNH), Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I (UdA)-Clermont Université-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Projet de Recherche LEGITIMES, ANR-13-AGRO-0004 project LEGITIMES, financement Agence Nationale de la Recherche [French National Research Agency], Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT), and Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Université d'Auvergne - Clermont-Ferrand I (UdA)-Clermont Université
- Subjects
agroecology ,[SDV.SA]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Agricultural sciences ,0106 biological sciences ,Economics and Econometrics ,Returns to scale ,Agrochemical ,legumes ,01 natural sciences ,Agricultural economics ,Sustainable agriculture ,Economics ,media_common.cataloged_instance ,pulses ,European union ,economic-ecologic conflict ,Agroecology ,Nitrogen management ,General Environmental Science ,media_common ,2. Zero hunger ,agrifood sector ,business.industry ,Subsidy ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,technological lock-in ,13. Climate action ,Agriculture ,040103 agronomy & agriculture ,0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries ,Food systems ,business ,[SDV.AEN]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Food and Nutrition ,010606 plant biology & botany - Abstract
International audience; Grain-legume plants fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil and thus do not need nitrogen fertilizers. Therefore, grain- legumes can potentially decrease global warming, as nitrogen fertilization is responsible for half of all agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, grain-legumes have many functional and nutritional properties both as feed and food. Despite the fact that the European Union has granted considerable subsidies to promote grain-legume cultivation, their production continues to fall and there has been no satisfactory explanation as to why. This study provides an answer by showing that a situation of technological lock-in has resulted from the co-evolution of crop systems, based on an agrochemical paradigm, public policies, and market dynamics that promote cereals. This process began with the historical choice by European and French public institutions to relegate grain-legumes to feed in direct competition with imported soybeans. Moreover, interrelated factors, such as breeding selection, public subsidies, and food systems, have favored increasing returns to adoption for cereals to the detriment of grain-legumes. Finally, the evolutionary economics approach used here identified several actions that must be implemented together, such as agricultural cost-accounting methods, nitrogen management, institutional innovations, and market out lets to promote grain-legumes and move towards more sustainable agriculture.
- Published
- 2016
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