Local and sustainable food production : discovering the territory through the accounts of its inhabitants
During the second workshop in France, in August 2022, we set out to discover the territory through the accounts of its inhabitants. This large sensitive map, drawn by several hands, allows us to give you back what we learned and collected during interviews that were recorded and of which you will find selected pieces.
Local Food production, a territory’s common thread
We were interested in local and sustainable food production, the people who produce it and the major issues involved. Through their stories, we were able to gradually establish a geography of the territory, associated with its uses, and to discover its past and current mutations.
Some participants of the workshop had the chance to meet people from the local community who work in the fields of food and agriculture. They are people who help raising awareness at a local scale regarding agriculture and organic food. What is produced in the area ? How does it work ? What are the issues ? What could the future of the area ? Can the Royans be self-sufficient?
A collective and sensitive illustration of the territory
Interviews with the local community
Anthony is a young farmer who moved from the city to the area of Saint-Laurent-en-Royans in order to work with the land. He produces his own organic food and sells it in the local market.
Jeremy is a market gardener based in Saint-Hilaire-du-Rosier. He works in the farm that belongs to his grandparents. He is making and selling organic and varied vegetables.
Marlène is in charge of agriculture, forest managing and pastoralism in the Royans-Vercors townships gathering. We asked her about the food supply chain project, which aims to relocate the consumption of the local production. She works in link with farmers, municipalities, schools, shopkeepers.
Monique is 73 years old. We met with her at Jeremie’s field. She usually buys organic food from him. Let’s listen to what she has to say
“Jacopain” is a bakery and a restaurant based in St-Thomas-en-Royans. It was built in 1989 by the couple Marielle and Sylvain and was formerly a hangar they decided to rehabilitate. The show piece of the place is the wood oven with a good inertie which allow them to cook bred, but also cakes, pastries and vegetables for the restaurant. Their handicraft without using machine allow the creative process. They can experiment new recipes of bread, new cakes through the choice of the raw products. We interviewed Marielle and Flavien who are telling us about their work, their relationship with the territory through methods of sale and how they can see evolving the bakery in the future.
Mathieu is a local farmer of organic products who works in a collective way with other producers. They make bread and transform their vegetables into tinned food, and they have a special interest on social security around alimentation.
In order to understand better the situation around the transmission of land between the old and the new farmers, we met with Rebecca, a young researcher in anthropology who seeks answers on this topic.
