French PDO and IGP facing the Covid-19 crisis and changes in food systems Dossier Covid : Conséquences de la crise sanitaire de la Covid-19 sur les productions animales

Abstract

Choosing a pragmatic and empirical approach, this article examines the resilience capacity of operators (producers and processors) and PDO-IGP collectives in the face of a shock such as that caused by covid-19. Based on information from surveys carried out by professional organizations among their members during the crisis in spring 2020, supplemented by comprehensive interviews carried out in April 2021, we studied the impact of the crisis on PDO and the way actors reacted by mobilizing levers at individual and collective levels. The main levers rely on diversification of products and circuits, substitution (storage or release), cooperation (internally or with distributors) and connectivity with their networks. For PDO-IGP, the crisis highlighted the fact that terroir and proximity have been praised for all the circuits (short and long). For the defense and management organizations, these observations reinforce on the one hand the importance of differentiating themselves and making commitments and values understandable, and on the other hand their role in coordination, as a collective actor, to enhance the diversity of operators making it possible to be present on the various types of circuits and more generally to adapt to transitions of food systems.