What levers can be used to accelerate the agricultural and food transition in the territories? Recommendations from 5 years of experimentation

Territories are on the front line when it comes to environmental and social issues. Witnesses to their concrete manifestations, they have levers of action to provide answers. Throughout France, women and men have chosen to act to preserve the environment and its resources, provide sustainable and quality food, create synergies between the actors of the food system and the territories… With the TETRAA program, the Foundation has supported elected officials and citizens of 9 territories in their agroecological and food transition in partnership with AgroParisTech. For 5 years, they experimented with solutions, trained and met to exchange. Today, we share their lessons and recommendations in order to feed public decision-makers and inspire new commitments.

TERA: a programme to support the agroecological and food transition in the territories

Our food choices have a direct impact on biodiversity, global warming, health, producers’ remuneration, etc. These challenges affect us all. They are played out at the level of the territories where the levers of agroecological and food transition are numerous: support for the change of farmers’ practices (agro-forestry, assistance with the installation of organic farming), structuring of sectors, supply of collective catering, awareness of users and education on food, linking producers and buyers, management of agricultural land, etc. Players are already committed to proposing visionary initiatives. To enable these bold projects to become true demonstrators of the feasibility and interest of a transition to more ecological, solidarity-based, and democratic agricultural and food systems, the Foundation has launched the TETRAA program in partnership with AgroParisTech.

With a budget of €5.69 million, it has supported and accompanied 9 territories to better understand the diversity of transition paths, but also to better understand common issues, such as the loss of land for agricultural use, food security and the issue of water. “TETRAA embodies a unique experience of collective commitment. By bringing together local actors, experts and elected officials, we have sought to build transition models adapted to the specificities of each territory,” says Benoît Mounier, Managing Director France of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation. “This programme has not only funded projects, it has also been designed as a living laboratory, promoting exchange, training and co-construction with actors in the field, because we know that the transition requires resources, but also support and the sharing of experiences.”

Concrete lessons for political representatives

The many exchanges and lessons learned by the participants in the programme made it possible to draw up recommendations intended to feed the reflection of parliamentarians, State services and local elected representatives. They affirm the role of local authorities in terms of food, to give them the means to drive the transition at their level, to clarify the national framework for action and its local variations in order to gain coherence and support territorial approaches. They provide decision-makers with a basis on which to propose measures that contribute to the necessary agroecological and food transition.

These recommendations and lessons were shared at a symposium held on Wednesday, November 13, 2024 at the National Assembly. With the theme “Food and agriculture: what role of the territories?”, it was co-sponsored by three deputies of different political persuasions: Sandrine Le Feur, MP for Finistère, Marie Pochon, MP for Drôme, and Dominique Potier, MP for Meurthe-et-Moselle.
By offering a space for cross-party discussion on the role of local authorities in the agricultural and food transition and the resources allocated to enable them to act, while bringing together parliamentarians, research, agricultural and food stakeholders, as well as representatives of civil society, the symposium helped to bring out concrete proposals, around the conclusions of the TETRAA programme.

Resources at the service of sustainable food driven by the territories

In addition to this document of recommendations, the TETRAA programme has been an opportunity to create many useful resources for civil society actors, businesses, elected officials and local authority technicians. In the form of practical sheets, videos, white papers, and reports of exchanges, the website offers a real range of tools on subjects related to food and agriculture: collaboration between companies and local authorities for sustainable sectors, food democracy, agroecological practices. And of course, the site presents testimonies and actions carried out in the 9 territories.

To go further, a web platform on the issue of monitoring and evaluation of food strategies in TETRAA territories has been created with the Basic, Solagro, Tero and Défis design offices, which have supported several of the territories between 2020 and 2023. You will be able to discover diagnoses of local food systems and their socio-economic and environmental issues, the objectives and impacts of the projects in each territory, and quantified forecasting objectives.