La crise de la covid-19, un levier de changement pour le système alimentaire français ?
Abstract
The covid-19 crisis highlighted the weaknesses of the French food system to supply food to the consumers during the lockdown. The article questions the regulatory crisis in the agri-food sector through the issue of food and proximate short food supply chains (PSFSC). From an institutionalist perspective when analyzing the link between crises and innovation, this crisis can be seen as a driver for change in the way the food system is regulated, by providing a favorable context for practices that offer alternatives. Starting from the identification of the multiple initiatives developed during the lockdown, we present a first analysis of the potential changes in the food system relative to the crisis, in particular by questioning their sustainability. The potential for transformation of the food system most often highlighted by standard economic literature is a matter of consumer choice. However, the high degree of interest for local products does not seem to be continuing. We defend here the following thesis: one should rather look at the supply side and its institutional structures to understand the main obstacles to the transformation of the food system after the crisis. CCPs can be quickly envisioned as short-term solutions to crises in the agri-food sector, but instead we propose to shift the issue to the potential for transformation of the food system by PSFSCs. We are thus highlighting a series of issues that could be the subject for future research to better understand the processes of reconfiguration of the food system.
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