Food and agriculture in the Mediterranean: reconnecting agricultural and food systems at local scale
Channel: INRAE Ecodéveloppement
Date: 2021-12-16

Changes in agricultural practices in the Mediterranean impacts the capability of maintain local food systems. The current land use dynamics in the Mediterranean region tends on one side toward very homogeneous agricultural areas caused by intensification process and the global marketing network, and on the other side toward an increasing complexity due to abandonment, urbanization and land uses diversification. Without measures to manage these trends, the fulfillment of local food systems may be in danger, between intensive areas unable to meet local demands, and diversified areas where the agricultural abandonment may become widespread. However, diversified areas can be a springboard for reconnecting cities to local food systems. Agricultural interstices on the edges of cities, abandoned by the largest farms, can be places where farms of smaller size are likely to be located, provided that public or collective action accompanies them. In this perspective, the DIVERCROP research program assessed and mapped current land use trends in the Mediterranean basin, to propose a framework that could help reconnect food and local agriculture. We present here our approach and our main results