Montpellier Scientific Community



Innovation and Development in Agriculture and the Agrifood Sector (INNOVATION)

Director: Christophe Soulard
soulard@supagro.inra.fr
Website:
Research area
The Innovation and Development in Agriculture and the Agrifood Sector (INNOVATION) Joint Research Unit is organised in three teams that address complementary aspects of innovation in the agrifood sector, each favouring a different approach: technical change in farms and advisory facilities (disciplines: agronomy, management and farm economics), territorial dynamics and innovation in the governance of agricultural areas (disciplines: geography and regional economics) and innovations in the social construction of products and markets with or without a specific geographic origin, seeking to evaluate their impacts on territories (disciplines: economics, anthropology, economic sociology and law).
Research highlights
  • Innovation in Localised Agrifood Systems (SYAL)
  • Social construction of agrifood markets - Changes in Farming systems
  • Agricultural advices and Services - Peri-urban Agriculture and territorial governance
Staff profile
Total permanent staff Total Scientists* Scientists with "HDR"[1] Post-doc fellows PhD
54
41
5
1
10
*Scientists per member institution: 21 CIRAD, 13 INRA, 6 Montpellier SupAgro, 1 UM III
Research teams

· Technical and Organizational Changes in Agricultural Production Systems (SPACTO)

· Social construction of Markets, Qualities and Territorial Development (MarQualTer)

· Territorial Innovation – emergence and governance of agri-urban projects (IT)
Most important international partnerships
  • Some Unit members scientists are actually working in partnership (as associated professors/researchers or visiting scientists) with Santa Catarina Federal University (Brazil), Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (Mexico), University of Pretoria (South Africa), University of Ghana (Ghana), Centre International de Recherche-Développement sur l’Elevage en zone Subhumide (CIRDES, Burkina-Faso), Agricultural Research for Development Institute (Cameroon), National Law School of Bangalore (India).

  • Creation (2007) of an international laboratory “AGRITERRIS” –Agricultural Activities, Territories and Localised agri-food systems” with the “Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA, Argentina), 3 Argentinean Universities (Un Nacional de la Plata, Un Nacional de Mar del Plata, Un Nacional del Sur), INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, Toulouse-Le Mirail University –with actual extension to University Federal of Para- Brazil)

  • Co-organisation of 4 International Congresses on “Localised Food Systems”: Montpellier-France 2002, Toluca-Mexico 2004, Baeza-Spain 2006, Mar del Plata-Argentina 2008 and cofounding of an European Research Group with Universities of Wageningen (Netherlands), Stockholm (Sweden), Corvinius-Budapest (Hungary), Firenze, Parma, Pisa, Ancona, Cassino, Turino, Bari, Verona, Teramo, La Sapienza-Roma (Italy), Tras-os-montes & Alro duro (Portugal), CSIC, Jaen , Sevilla (Spain), Panteion (Greece), Agridea (Switzerland), Toulouse 1 (France) –December 2007
  • Numerous training international partnerships: Masters of Science “Local Innovation Processes and Rural Development” in Argentina, “Rural Agroindustry and Territorial Development” in Mexico, “Rural Development” in Nicaragua, workshop on geographical indications for Middle Eastern & North African agri-food products with the World Bank Group, program “Ecology, Culture and Politics of food in France“ for Michigan State University students, International training module on “geographical indications: a way forward for local development” with AGRIDEA –Switzerland- and World Intellectual Property Organization.

 
Facts and figures
Publications in international ranking journals
2007: 24 (partial)
2006: 31
Representative publications
Andrieu N., Piraux M., Tonneau J.-P., 2007. Design of sustainability indicators of the production systems in Brazilian semi-arid area by the analysis of biomass flows. International journal of sustainable development, 10, (1-2): 106-121. http://dx.doi.org/10.1504/IJSD.2007.014417

Chia E., Dugué P.(coords), 2006. L'exploitation agricole familiale: mythe ou réalité ? The family farm: Myth or Reality? Agricultures. Cahiers d'Etudes et de Recherche Francophones, 15(6).

Chiffoleau Y., Dreyfus F., Stofer R., Touzard J.-M. 2007. Networks, innovation and performance: evidence from a cluster of wine cooperatives (Languedoc, South of France), In Vertical markets and cooperatives hierarchies, Karantininis K., Nilsson J. (eds.), Springer: 37-61.

Jarrige F. Soulard C. Nougarèdes B. Laurens L. Sabatier B., 2008. Les projets agri-urbains : des innovations territoriales ? Exemple du bâti agricole dans l'Hérault (France). In Bryant C., Loudiyi S., Laurens L., "Gouvernance des territoires périurbains". Ed. Universitaires de Montréal, (in press)

Muchnik J., Requier-Desjardin D., Sautier D., Touzard J.-M. 2007. Les Systèmes agroalimentaires localisés / Local agrifood systems. Economies et Sociétés, série A.G., (29): 1465-1484