Scientists call to uphold independent research in response to French farmers' protests

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00:00Next, here in France, more than 240 scientists from the National Research Institute for Agriculture,

00:06Food and the Environment have signed an open letter calling on colleagues from all industries

00:11to resist pressure from agricultural lobbyists and uphold rigorous and independent research.

00:17The letter was published in Le Monde today and follows protests last month that saw farmers from

00:22the National Federation of Farmers Union block the entrance of the institute. The demonstrating

00:27farmers say recommendations made by the scientists there have led to environmental policies that have

00:33been detrimental to their businesses. Eliza Herbert reports. Farmers are among the first

00:39victims of climate change and ecosystem degradation. That's according to some of

00:44France's leading scientists who say that agriculture and food systems are on the

00:49frontlines of droughts, floods, storms and invasive species, among other risks that

00:55come with a warming planet. The group of 240 researchers from France's National Research

01:02Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment penned an op-ed in Le Monde on Monday saying it is

01:08their responsibility to resist pressure from lobbies. The article comes in response to

01:13recent protests linked to the National Farmers Union and young farmers outside of their office.

01:19Demonstrators claimed they face a wall of constraints under environmental regulations

01:24and echoed common complaints by farmers in France who feel they are bearing the brunt

01:30of carbon cutting targets. The authors were determined to prove that science also serves

01:35agriculture and that high quality research is needed to address the monumental challenges of

01:40the 21st century but that we must face the reality. The agricultural and food sectors

01:47significantly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and are partly responsible for

01:52ecosystem degradation, public health issues and water resource depletion. It would also be

01:58misleading to suggest that farmers are solely to blame. They are integral and often constrained

02:04participants in a dominant agri-food system. They say it is up to leaders and public policy

02:10to support society and individuals through essential structural changes but misinformation

02:16and polarization are rife and according to the group media and politics can at times be

02:22influenced by lobby groups and their interests.

02:27Well let's speak to one of the signatories of that letter. Philippe Delacour is an environmental

02:33economist at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment and

02:38he joins us now. Thanks for being with us Philippe. Just talk us through how you and

02:42your colleagues felt that day when you saw those protests by farmers outside the institute.

02:48Well thanks for having me. Well first I have to specify that I wasn't on site. My workplace is

02:54someplace else but what I felt first is that I felt that it came within a more global context

03:02of polarization of viewpoints, some type of backlash also and pressure that is put on

03:08researchers specifically working on climate change, against academic freedom too.

03:16And the second thing that I felt was I didn't feel much support from the government and that's why we

03:24decided to wrote this piece in order to step up and to take our own defense because we felt that

03:31the government wouldn't. And Philippe tell us some of the recommendations you and your

03:36colleagues are making for farmers to lower their carbon emissions. Well I think there are three

03:44types of things that are very important to have in mind. The first one is that food and agricultural

03:50products are very specific goods because they are related to health, culture but also ecosystem and

03:56the environment. And so it's important to have in mind that agriculture is not an ordinary sector.

04:02It cannot be treated like any other sector. A second point that is important to have in mind

04:07is a wide variety of agricultural sectors within the agricultural sector. There are many types of

04:14farmers, many types of agricultural firms and so there is no single solution to the problems that

04:20face the agricultural sector. And that's why also research is so important we believe.

04:26And the final point is that the issue is very systemic. It's not only a problem of

04:32agricultural firms and farmers but it's the whole system because it goes from agriculture

04:38and ecosystems to consumption and through the processing and the retailing industry.

04:45So when it comes to farming practices as an economist I would tell you that what is the

04:51most important is to give more value to more virtuous practices and to give less value to

04:56practices that degrade ecosystem. So economists would talk to you about payments for ecosystem

05:03services or carbon taxes on the contrary. But it's not enough because once again

05:11farmers they are within a system that is larger than just agriculture. And so there are at least

05:17two other things that is very important to have in mind. The first one is that the processing

05:22industry and the retailing have very important share of the value within the value chain. So

05:29it's very important to consider the distribution of value across the value chain and potentially

05:35better control the margins that are made by those processing industries. And the other one is

05:43consumption because obviously consumers also have a responsibility. We know that for climate

05:49change issues for instance it's important to decrease the consumption of animal-based products

05:54toward more plant-based proteins for instance to decrease also the use of ultra-processed food

06:01both for health and the environment. And so it's a very systemic change that needs to

06:08happen. And for that public policies are very important to support the change to support also

06:15the most vulnerable actors within this sector. And it's very important that public

06:22policy do not support the status quo like trying to fix things without any change

06:30because we believe that the agricultural sector has some big change to make. Well Philippe what

06:36would you say to those farmers that argue that it's in fact the growing regulatory restrictions

06:41that you and your colleagues are in some ways fueling that are actually hindering farmers

06:46efforts to produce food with low emissions? What would you say to that? Well what I would say that

06:53basically some change is necessary because the agricultural sector is a very important

06:59contributor to climate change. So important changes are required and that's one of the

07:05role of research to help find some solutions or some way to help the transition.

07:12The second one is that agricultural sectors they are probably the most impacted sectors

07:20by climate change related to extreme weather events, droughts, floods and etc. And here again

07:28the role of research is to help find some paths toward more resilient agricultural practices.

07:37And so and the final one is that obviously we how our role is to have a better understanding

07:45of what is going on. That's what research do. We can have some policy recommendations in the end.

07:54But our policy recommendations are really within like the objective to be beneficial

08:02to the world society. So in my opinion we are not against farmers or against agricultural

08:10firms but our aim is really to find some ways to make the transition improve the situation.

08:21Philippe, good to talk to you. Thanks so much for joining us on the program and giving us your

08:24insight. That's Philippe Delacour who is an environmental economist at the National Research

08:28Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment here in France.

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