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Organic sheep breeding on the Causse Méjan: challenges and drawbacks of organic breeding in a national park in France
Abstract
This work highlights the ecological stakes and the drawbacks associated with the development of organic lamb production on the Causse Méjan, a calcareous plateau, part of which is included in the Cévennes National Park (PnC). It analyses the tensions underlying a valorisation project for organic lambs by a small group of stockbreeders that is supported by the national park because of the ecological quality of their practices. On the one hand, since breeders are highly dependent on the ecological characteristics of the environment, they are forced to multiply their marketing channels and to invest a great deal of energy to obtain good prices for their meat whose characteristics do not match the current standards of quality (homogeneity, clear meat). On the other hand, the Pac can neither fully support these stockbreeders whose practices are marginal at the local level without straining its relationships with mainstream local breeders, nor overstep its role as the protector of nature. Considering this unattractive context and the interesting economic outlooks offered by the mainstream breeding system, which options will the young breeders of the future choose? Supporting a microexperiment like this one appears to be an important step for the development of new production models that combine economic profitability and ecological effectivenessSimilar works
This paper was published in Organic Eprints.
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