2. Process

1. Agro-ecological transition in territories

Depending on their configuration, agricultural systems can positively or negatively impact the environment (climate, biodiversity). Agriculture can be a powerful lever for addressing multiple, interdependent challenges. This is what is at stake with agro-ecology, whose implementation depends first and foremost on the adoption, at farm and regional levels, of biodiverse farming practices. Their development requires a transition, as current systems are often highly specialized. This transition is complex to implement, as the practices needed to provide services to agriculture and society are highly context dependent. This is why the transition must be designed at the local scale.

2. Sustainability of territorialized food systems

Regions have become spaces for re-localizing, rearranging, debating, governing and observing food systems. Whether it be in connection with short distribution channels, high-quality food supply chains, agribusiness chains, food supply chains to cities or rural areas... food systems are indeed being questioned not only in terms of their effects on sustainable development and food security at local level, but also in terms of their capacity to innovate and coexist on a regional scale. The Covid19 crisis and the phenomenon of food inflation have revealed vulnerabilities in food systems and highlighted the need to construct shared knowledge and assessment of how they function, by raising new questions on their resilience, connectivity and governance between local and regional scales. Beyond this, food has become a clearly identified area of intervention for local authorities, who are now experimenting with the implementation of food strategies at different scales.

3. Bioeconomy, circular economy and energy transition

Territories must, today, make far-reaching changes to meet environmental, economic and social challenges together. The circular economy and bioeconomy - understood as the conversion of biomass into added-value non-food resources - are emerging as ways of supporting these transitions. While the bioeconomy is already being put into practice at the local level, thanks, in particular, to European, national and regional strategies, research is needed to move beyond experimental or niche approaches. Research is also needed to develop a sustainable, circular bioeconomy rooted in local communities. Agricultural and forestry production systems are in the front line for meeting the needs of the bioeconomy. The use of biomass as a raw material for the production of a wide range of resources such as energy requires rethinking industrial systems.

4. Sustainable resource management, biodiversity, and adaptation of ecosystems to climate change

Natural, forest and agricultural ecosystems are faced with global changes (climate change, increasing scarcity of fossil fuels, etc.), shocks (health crises, occurrence of new pests, etc.) that are very difficult to anticipate, and hazards (droughts, falling prices, etc.) that are better known, but have consequences, nonetheless. At the same time, a growing segment of society is calling for a more sustainable management of natural resources: air, soil, water, biodiversity and fossil fuels. In this context, natural, forest and agricultural ecosystems as well as their management need to be reexamined. Thus, it is necessary to produce knowledge and methods for developing agroecosystems that are resilient in the face of global change, shocks, and hazards. The goal is to design production processes that are frugal and efficient in terms of their consumption of natural and non-renewable resources and promote their recycling and/or conservation.

5. Territorial dynamics

The territorial dynamics in social and economic systems are characterized by progressive changes, but also by disruptions. These have an impact on dominant models and raise the question of their resilience. The current period combines these two dimensions. A long-term trend reinforcing the urbanization of populations and activities is observed simultaneously with a transition towards more sustainable and circular models, and the ambivalent effects of health, social and economic crises, which are at once sources of vulnerability and opportunities for innovation.

These changes reflect shifts in production models and innovation processes that impact the spatial distribution of activities and their local embeddedness. The criteria for assessing the attractiveness of a territory are thus being redefined in the light of new, differentiated expectations on the part of populations and companies. These elements also call into question the limitations of a dominant paradigm based on the prevalence of large urban centers as frames of reference, to the detriment of the specificities of medium-sized and small towns and rural areas. Beyond this, we need to consider the evolution of rural-urban interdependencies and to better understand the nature of peri-urban dynamics.

6. Innovation in sectors and territories in a context of transition

Production and consumption systems are closely linked. The agro-ecological transition towards sustainable and nutritional agrifood systems requires both the development of new value chains and the transformation of existing ones. It also raises the question of how various value chains coexist and interact in a given region. This implies examining the mechanisms that promote their emergence and support their development. In particular, attention is paid to so-called "coupled" innovations involving different components in the value chain.  These include technological, organizational, productive, commercial and social innovations, as well as "business" innovations, that is to say, the creation of new processes or products aimed at generating added value in the value chains. These are new focus areas in the research on the changes at work in the local mechanisms of coordination between different actors, and the role of digital technology in the dissemination of knowledge and resources. This also prompts questions about the users’ forms of involvement, which implies taking into account the diversity of their contributions and expectations in innovation processes.

7. Changes in public policy and collective action to support transition at a territorial level

There is a need to support transition processes in public policies. This requires better consideration of the nature of the public and common goods at stake in agricultural, food and environmental transitions. For this purpose, better coordination, within territories, between territorial and sector-specific public policies is necessary. It calls for a reexamination of the orientations and intervention tools of agricultural, food and environmental, as well as rural planning and development policies.

The involvement of local actors and civil society in the construction and implementation of intervention measures is increasing. It consists of various combinations of public policies and collective action within innovative systems. Similarly, the implementation of transition strategies at territorial level raises the question of how interdependent relationships between rural and urban areas are evolving. Another question relates to the forms of public intervention that take into account the challenges of cohesion at the different territorial levels.

Supporting these transition processes therefore requires that interdisciplinary research be conducted to understand the biological, technical and social mechanisms needed to produce these common goods. The aim is to analyze the foundations and effects of various types of public policy, and then to propose relevant and effective intervention instruments to meet transition objectives.

Each region has broken down the national themes into regional priorities.