Speakers
Description
In a context of agro-ecological transition, territorialization of food systems and adaptation to climate change, new agricultural products are increasingly appearing in areas where they were not historically present. These new productions may particularly rely on consumer preferences for geographical proximity and strong territorial identity (Atallah et al. 2021). They represent an opportunity to diversify existing farms or may be associated with the development of new economic models and market channel strategies, as shown by Hill et al (2023) on hemp production in the US.
In France, tea production, although still at an early stage of development, is expanding with the arrival of new producers, particularly in the Brittany and Occitanie regions. This trend raises a number of interesting scientific questions: how to structure a new industry based on a food product that has no history in the region? What are the associated economic models and relationships between stakeholders in the sector? What are the opportunities and motivations for developing new local production of an already highly globalized commodity? As in the case of other crops that are re-emerging in certain French regions such as saffron (Girard and Navarrete, 2005) or hops (Rousselière et al. 2023), we hypothesize that the challenges facing tea production in France relate in particular to production and installation costs, strategies for market positioning and efforts to structure the sector in a sustainable and collectively beneficial way.
In order to characterize the development of this new sector and to identify the motivations and obstacles encountered, we conducted a series of exploratory semi-directive interviews with 13 tea producers at different stages of their project. Our results show a certain diversity in the profile of producers. Unlike traditional agricultural installations, the majority of respondents did not come from farming backgrounds and were not as closely linked to the usual organizations such as local Chambers of Agriculture, land operators, farming unions or inter-professional organizations. The process of setting up a tea farm therefore tends to follow an individual logic. However, we have identified a dynamic network of producers structured around two sub-groups of individuals, each led by producers who were pioneers in tea-growing experimentation in France. Finally, by asking respondents about the level of trust they have in their professional partners, our results show that a higher level of trust is associated with more frequent (more than once a month) and more local interactions.
We discuss the possible ways in which the sector could evolve and underline the importance of a more integrated and collaborative approach in order to meet the collective needs inherent in the early stages of any emerging new food chain, such as the need to develop a technical reference system or to adopt specifications clarifying the territorial dimension. In terms of policy implications, we discuss that such strategies of novel crop choices may be a lever for inciting young farmers setting up and may directly contribute to agricultural development by strengthening local food systems with more diverse productions but at the same time, in order to be sustainable, cooperation and communication between producers and within the supply chain is key to ensure quality and commonly accepted rules.
References
Atallah, S. S., Bazzani, C., Ha, K. A., & Nayga Jr, R. M. (2021). Does the origin of inputs and processing matter? Evidence from consumers’ valuation for craft beer. Food Quality and Preference, 89, 104146
Girard, N., & Navarrete, M. (2005). Exploring Synergies between Scientific and Empirical Knowledge: The Case of Saffron and Truffle Cultivation in France. Natures Sciences Societes, 13(1), 33-44.
Hill, R., Jablonski, B. B., Van, L., Wang, M., Patalee, B., Shepherd, J., ... & Thilmany, D. (2023). Producers marketing a novel crop: a field-level view of hemp market channels. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, 38, e22.
Rousselière D., Coisnon T., Gillard E., Musson A., & Rousselière S (2023) A divorcement between Local and Organic? Exploring the hop supply contract strategies of French craft breweries, Paper presented at Journées de recherches en sciences sociales, Paris, décember.
| Keywords | Farm typology ; Market Channel ; Tea Production ; Cooperation |
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