Mountain farming: transition and innovative solutions

The agricultural sector is based on a number of quality-oriented sectors, relatively well-preserved agro-ecosystems and a marketing system partly linked to tourism. However, it has to face up to the consequences of global change: climatic hazards that jeopardize the self-sufficiency of farms, management of various livestock and/or dairy processing effluents that are increasingly constrained by legislation, threats linked to the return of large predators but also zoonoses with their catastrophic consequences for humans, domestic animals and wildlife alike, changes in consumer behavior, particularly with regard to livestock farming…

Beyond this alarming observation, the public authorities’ awareness of the importance of supporting this sector is also an opportunity to be seized through the public policies put in place by the Future Law for Agriculture, Food and Forestry of October 13, 2014, the Egalim 2018 law and numerous schemes (such as GI2E) that are sources of experimentation.

This teaching module – aimed at students in the Agroecology and Transition in Mountain Territories professional degree program at Savoie Mont Blanc University – invites them to discover innovative solutions that can be implemented on a territorial and/or farm scale, to promote transition and enable resilience in the face of change. Three days of practical experience in the heart of the Parc de la Vanoise and the surrounding area are planned.