The James Hutton Institute
This page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
The James Hutton InstituteThis page is no longer updated. The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute joined forces with SCRI on 1 April 2011 to create The James Hutton Institute.
GRANADA WORKSHOP REPORT 12.
GRET : Groupe de Recherche et d'Echanges Technologiques, 213 Rue Lafayette 75010 PARIS, Francois@globenet.org
Remote small and medium sized farms in rural areas and niche markets
in urban or periurban areas
In less favoured areas the agricultural activities of livestock husbandry
and processing mainly concern small and medium sized farms. The main form
of diversification in these systems is the processing of agricultural products;
principally milk into cheese. Farmers wives also process other products
into local specialities. Rural tourism is developing in certain regions.
If the volume is sufficient, products may also be eligible for a quality
label, either at a national (for example the French Appellation d'Origine)
or a European level (Geographical Indication of origin or a certificate
of specificity). These quality designations are designed to preserve the
specificity and the typicality of products for consumers, to "create
rarity" and thus to maintain prices which, from the point of view
of producers, reflect production structures.
These production systems have two common characteristics : the fact
that production is remote and scattered throughout rural areas and that
products are sold on niche markets. As far as production is concerned,
producers are scattered throughout rural areas, isolated, often still individualistic,
even where collective initiatives (co-operatives) or processing industries,
which collect milk from several producers, exist and are developing.
The majority of products are sold locally, through local markets or
farm gate sales or through the network of producer contacts. Nevertheless
these networks do not involve all producers and do not facilitate the sale
of all the produce concerned. According to a study carried out in 1993
in 4 different European countries, local sales only accounted for 70-85%
of the production in France, Germany and Belgium (In the United Kingdom,
where on average farms are much larger and much closer to small industries,
only 30% of production was concerned).
Nevertheless the market for these products exists and is growing. A
study of the market for farm produce in France, Germany, Belgium and the
United Kingdom shows that it is bought by between 35-60% of the population.
According to a study by AND for the EEC, the market share of products of
a specific quality is as high as 10-12%. However, the majority of areas
with expanding markets are urban. The question is therefore how to sell
urban or periurban consumers products, whose flavour, typicality, links
with the countryside or region of origin, nature or conservation of the
environment are valued, something which necessitates different methods
of production, distribution and sale to those which producers are used
to.
On the other hand, if the production of these traditional products were
to increase it would contribute to the relative saturation of local markets,
not least because rural exodus has limited the number of potential customers.
However, producers who wish to generate a profit from this activity are
obliged, notably in order to comply with European standards, to increase
production.
In order to realise the potential for market growth, the production
as well as the marketing structure need to adapt. To move away from rural
production destined for rural areas, in order to make products suited to
distribution networks and the habits of urban consumers. This necessitates
profound changes, which have to a large extent already been implemented
in certain areas, although to a lesser extent in others. Even where niche
markets are concerned, traditional products are not in practice suited
to urban consumers or to conventional distribution networks. The quality
of cheeses, even their size is uniform. The volume on offer is often weak.
The packaging used is not suitable for long journeys. The small or very
small processing units, do not in general come up to European standards.
A marketing structure is required in order to make the presentation and
quality of products more uniform and ensure sufficient volume to interest
distributors and enable processing units to conform to European standards.
Diversification also reflects new crafts and presupposes new skills
and knowledge, new information networks and even new attitudes towards
the environment. In fact the collaboration and the collective organisation
of producers often becomes necessary : collective investments in processing
which respects European standards, collective marketing and collective
advertising, etc.
Shared research, development and training for the development
of diversification in rural areas
Where changes are necessary, the actors who develop the activities implied
in diversification are faced with numerous questions. The solution implies
at the same time appropriate inter-disciplinary research, the accumulation
of relevant information and the communication of this information to the
actors developing the activities. These three elements are necessarily
very closely linked. However, making the results of the research accessible
to the actors is not easy. The focus of the research must be closely linked
to farmers preoccupation's, it must take into account existing knowledge
and that the results are intended for communication to the end users.
- What technology is available that can reconcile the dispersed nature
of production, the numerous isolated actors in rural areas and the niche
marketing of quality produce. Technologies currently available are largely
designed for production on a far larger scale, and technological advances
which permit production on a small scale are recent. Less research is carried
out on small scale production as small-scale technology does not interest
the large groups in the agri-food industry who carry out the majority of
research in this area.
- What means are available that can reconcile quality products, technical
expertise, hygiene and scattered low cost production rural areas? Is the
"zero microbe" technology the best way to guarantee the health
of the consumer? How will farmers, and in particular those in less favoured
areas, manage at the same time to satisfy European standards and conserve
landscapes, employment and local products.
- How can the market for these products be developed? The purchasing
behaviour of consumers of this type of product, particularly in the case
of direct sales, is not totally rational. Consumers of these products do
not use them to maximum effect. They buy a food product and at the same
time a little piece of countryside or contact with the producer. The classic
models which describe consumer behaviour do not apply as they do else where.
- How can we avoid these products being produced more efficiently compared
to the large distribution chains and at a lower cost to the industry, depriving
numerous rural producers of their livelihoods. How can we use and manage
quality designations to protect the products?
Diversification is for farmers in rural, less favoured areas, involves contact and mediation.
It involves the coming together of two different worlds: the rural world
where production takes place, the world of values, symbols and quality
products, and the urban/periurban world, from where and above all from
where tomorrow demand will come for these products (this is also the case
for rural tourism). Very little research has been done on these types of
diversification, despite the fact that they are innovative and the farmers
involved ask themselves numerous questions which the current system of
research, development and training does not help them to answer.
The road to a solution lies therefore not only in inter-disciplinary research, but also in a close collaboration between the three different worlds : that of research where the methods, concepts and models are formulated ; that of development, where the pertinent questions are asked about the problems encountered by those in the field and where the professionals' first responses are formulated, and that of training, where information is communicated to the economic actors and where exchange between producers allows the expertise gained from practice to be understood and valued.