Agro-ecology in action: The environmental oasis projects

Emmanuelle Reynaud (1, 2) , François Fulconis (3, 4, 2) , Gilles Paché (3, 2)

1 CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille
2 AMU - Aix Marseille Université
3 CRET-LOG - Centre de Recherche sur le Transport et la Logistique
4 LBNC - Laboratoire Biens, Normes, Contrats

Agro-ecology is now considered as an alternative model to the industrial agricultural model. Faced with the limitations of conventional production models, agro-ecology is emerging today as a possible response to the challenges of the 21st century: food security, circularity, respect for the environment, and development of employment. More generally, the adoption of circular principles aims to decouple environmental pressure from agricultural productivism. Agro-ecology is a relevant research topic because it aims to ensure sustainable and resilient agricultural production, to empower local farmers, to protect the environment and to fight again climate change. This article focuses on the French Oasis projects, as part of the “Hummingbird movement” initiated by Pierre Rabhi, and which represent a successful agro-ecological experience, in economic, social and environmental terms. Different data were collected by compiling information available on the website of 76 Oasis projects across France: people living in the community; lodging possibilities; presence of a school; and direct relationship with local farmers. Then, a social factorial correspondence analysis and an environmental factorial correspondence analysis was realized to evaluate the impacts of environmental Oasis projects. The results show that profitable organizations seem to conduct more social and environmental actions in an agro-ecology context, and they put in place more actions than those who have no profitable aims.

Mots clés: Pierre Rabhi; Hummingbird movement; Agro-ecology; environmental strategy; farming

Domaines: Gestion et management

Emmanuelle Reynaud, François Fulconis, Gilles Paché. Agro-ecology in action: The environmental oasis projects. Environmental Economics, 2019, 10 (1), pp.66-78. ⟨10.21511/ee.10(1).2019.05⟩. ⟨hal-02395815⟩