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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.