Presentation short abstract

The analysis of the PDO Picodon case study showed that the adaptive capacity of agropastoral farms, face to climate change is largely determined by the market challenges. But specifications and PDO system provide a framework for supporting both, sustainability and adaptation to climate change.

Presentation long abstract

Agropastoral systems possess sustainable characteristics and adaptive capacity to various types of hazards and constraints. The large-scale climate change currently underway could undermine them. We examined here how agropastoral farmers manage their livestock farming systems to adapt. We explored the case study of Picodon, a PDO goat's cheese produced in the south-east of France. Twenty-four surveys of farmers allowed to reconstruct the trajectories of farms in order to understand the nature and the determinants of the transformations and their sequence. Six surveys of stakeholders involved in the PDO system, supplemented by bibliographic research, supported the reconstruction of the PDO history. We highlighted the sources of flexibility mobilized by farmers to adapt in the short and long term, based on the livestock farming structures and practices. We thus showed that the adaptive capacity of these agropastoral farms, face to climate change is above all largely determined by the dynamics imposed by market challenges. The analysis of the history of the PDO system showed that the main focuses of debates between stakeholders had evolved in time, from the nature of the product, then the production area, followed by the production conditions, to the changes of the “terroir”. Each time, the stakeholders involved were enlarged and the specifications, relatively non-restrictive, were modified, creating a range of possibilities for the agropastoral farms. But the PDO system and network provide a relevant framework for negotiating and supporting changes that seek to reconcile sustainability with adaptation to climate change.