Think Tank Food&Planet Agriculture Food and Biodiversity

Agriculture, food and biodiversity:

How to reconcile citizens with their agriculture and their food?

For the launch of the Think Thank Food & Planet organized by the Connecting Leaders Club, experts and actors in the food chain discussed the issue: “How to reconcile citizens with their food and agriculture?”

Faced with the urgency of the challenges and the complexity of the issues, these meetings aim to bring together all stakeholders in the food chain through regular dialogue to allow the emergence of new virtuous initiatives.

Stéphane Travert, Former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Member of Parliament for La Manche, recalled the need “to respond to economic and societal emergencies, to ensure the food sovereignty of our country and thus guarantee our independence.”

“The issue of agricultural income, the renewal of generations will restore confidence to farmers to settle in economically viable farms. It is necessary to operate a “shock of innovations” to relaunch all the efforts already undertaken by the agricultural sectors. ” We must not oppose models and trust research to find ever more effective alternatives. ”

Henri Bies-Péré, Vice-President of the FNSEA, recalls that “Agriculture enjoys great confidence from the general public. Indeed, over 70% of consumers believe that farmers can meet today’s challenges. But we must give them time to adapt to change production methods, exploitation or invest in processing sectors. “

A finding shared by Louis Orenga, Managing Director of Interfel, who adds that “Consumers are aware that the players in agriculture are making efforts to meet the challenges.”

For Olivier Touze, Quality and Sustainable Development Director of the Les Mousquetaires Group, “The solution will come from co-construction with all the players in the sector to meet consumer expectations in terms of food safety, composition, origin and visibility. Consumers are looking for information about the products they consume. Nearly 15 million people use scan food every day. Intermarché has been working for 4 years on a vast program for a healthier and more virtuous diet. In particular, we are working to strengthen data reliability and create the traceability platform of the future. The objective is to move towards transparency on issues of quality, the environment and society. “

Same observation from Fabienne Boroni, CSR and Communication Director of the Savencia Group, “We have to decompartmentalize and stop pitting sectors against each other. At Savencia, co-construction involves supporting the installation of young milk producers with technical and financial assistance. We are also working with large retailers on joint operations combining cheese and vegetables to contribute to healthier and more sustainable food for consumers. A gradual approach is necessary to take into account the adaptation time of agriculture, as well as communication that integrates pedagogy and positive encouragement, without opposing pleasure and health. “

Without co-construction, no action is feasible over time

Ywan Penvern, Partner, Deloitte Sustainability France, adds that “Covid has strengthened the consideration of environmental issues:“ we are at the right time to make things happen. This supposes putting all the links in the chain around the table… the suppliers but also the technical institutes, the customers, the distributors, the consumers and NGOs. The aim is to identify all the key sustainability issues. ”

He adds, “At Deloitte we support the establishment of channels of excellence. Take the example of bread. Consumers are abandoning the white baguette. They turn to the traditional baguette, often backed by better quality wheat: red label, HVE, without pesticide residue. The objective is to identify together the areas for progress, to set up monitoring tools. of traceability to be able to supply consumer apps tomorrow. ”

Consumers drive change

For Grégory Dubourg, CEO of Nutrikéo “Consumer expectations such as plant consumption or knowledge of the nutritional content of products are evolving and companies must integrate them. Teaching from childhood is the best defense against nutritional deviations. “

For Henri Bies-Péré, Vice-President of the FNSEA, farmers feel called into question “Consumers must understand that the issues are complex and numerous, if we only take into account the climate impact in our decisions to produce, this will lead to the disappearance of many products on the shelves, with consequences for territories, employment and even biodiversity. Consumer expectations must be deepened and clarified. ”

Louis Orenga regrets that a minority of actors lets believe that no one agrees while the majority discusses to reach a consensus that we do not value enough. “We would like the actors of the collective to be able to teach young people to eat better, but this requires that we be able to review the conditions of access in schools. The consumer must know that we are in a process of progress. ”

“It takes a long time to change mentalities and understand the actions of farmers and the food industry in general. The media have a key role to play in changing attitudes and educating. ” recalls Grégory Dubourg.

“We must reaffirm the quality of our agriculture and our gastronomy by making it a cultural value and a pledge of good health. Territorial policies and innovations are essential to strengthen the link between local producers and consumers. ” complete Stéphane Travert.

Valérie Hoffenberg, founder of the Think Tank, concluded by presenting 3 French start-ups: Ekylibre, Né d’une seule ferme and ScanUp.