Presentation by Saadi Lahlou, Director of the IEA of Paris, as part of the 25th edition of the " Controverses européennes " (European Controversies)

Presentation

In 2003, the Agrobiosciences Mission organised the 9th controversies on the theme: "Images and imaginations at the heart of exchanges between agriculture and society". The aim was to explore the diversity of perceptions of agriculture and farmers by the rest of society, based on an exclusive survey conducted by BVA, summarized in three key words: nostalgia for the agriculture of yesteryear, idealized and affective; the gap between reality and imagination, with a misunderstanding of the changes in the farming profession; the respondents' sense of powerlessness in the face of the future of French agriculture within systems that go beyond it, such as Europe.

More than fifteen years later, what has changed? Many things and so little at once. So little if we listen to what farmers are feeling today, always convinced that they are largely misunderstood or even stigmatized. Everything, if we observe the evolution of practices and awareness, the fragmentation of models, new eating habits, alternative circuits, but also climate change, the break-in of digital technology, the rise of radical disputes over pesticides, the industrialization of agriculture or livestock...

What are our visions today of the different types of agriculture in France and Europe? What images are projected on farmers and how do they perceive themselves? Who produces and relays these images, for what effects? At a time when agricultural models are fragmenting and the social contract looks like a broken mirror, what are the ways to overcome image and communication battles?

On all these concrete subjects, these 25th Bergerac European Controversies invite all those who wish to do so - farmers, researchers, trainers, citizens, associations, politicians... - to reflect and exchange ideas together during three days, without taboos or wooden tongue.

With: Dominique ARIBERT, Director of the Nature Protection Department at the LPO; Jean-Luc BONGIOVANNI, organic farmer from the Hautes-Pyrénées; Pascale HÉBEL, Director of the Consumer and Business Department at CREDOC; Bertrand HERVIEU, sociologist, former President of the French Academy of Agriculture and INRA; Sylvestre HUET, author of the blog {Sciences²} on Le Monde ; Saadi LAHLOU, Chair of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics, Director of the Paris IAS; Jean-Daniel LEVY, Director of the Political Department of the Harris Interactive survey institute; Philippe MAUGUIN, CEO of INRA; Antoine MESSÉAN, President of the Association française d'agronomie; Robin VILLEMAINE, CCFD Terre Solidaire...

More information (website of the Controverses européennes)