Science at UM [S02-ep27]: From Local Food Policies to Biologging
This week on *A l’UM la science*, Coline Perrin, a geography researcher at the Innovation Laboratory, discusses the role of food policies in the relationship between urban and rural areas. The segment then takes us to Sète, where the Coastal and Marine Research Center has just opened its doors. Finally, the guest for the last three minutes is Agnès Lèbre, an astronomer and deputy director of the Montpellier Environmental Research Observatory (OREME). The program airs on Divergence FM-93.9 every Wednesday at 6 p.m.
In 2014, following the enactment of the Law on the Future of Agriculture, Food, and Forestry, the Montpellier metropolitan area became the first in France to launch its own agroecological and food policy, the P2A. Its goal: to provide healthy, locally sourced food to as many people as possible, and to support the local economy as well as jobs in agriculture and the agri-food sector. Over the past ten years, the number of vineyards in the metropolitan area has dropped from 703 to 299, and more than 84% of the farms in the region currently have no successor. The P2A also aims t , preserve the landscape heritage and natural resources, adapt to climate change by limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and promote social cohesion—particularly the ties between the city and the countryside.
Since then, the idea has gained traction across the region and is being implemented in various forms as PATs—local food initiatives. As early as 2015, the Metropolis signed the Urban Food Policy Pact in Milan, alongside some 100 cities from around the world. In 2019, it hosted the pact’s5thsummit, which brought together more than 200 cities. But how can this multitude of local projects truly change the relationship between the city and the countryside? That is the question we are asking our guest today. Coline Perrin is a researcher at INRAE in the Innovation Laboratory. She has studied these efforts to relocalize or reterritorialize food policies, focusing on PATs.
In the second half of the program, we head to Sète, where CELIMER, the research center for the coast and the sea, has just opened its doors on the IFREMER campus. Laurent Dagorn from the Marbec laboratory takes us to the biologging platform, a technique for tagging animals with transmitters that allow their movements to be tracked.
Finally, our guest for the last three minutes is Agnès Lèbre, an astronomer and deputy director of the Research Environmental Research Observatory (Oreme), who is giving a lecture on June 26 at 2 p.m. on the Triolet campus on the environmental impacts of digital technology.
At UM Science, you’ve got the program—let’s get started!
Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Lucie Lecherbonnier / Aline Périault
Reporting and editing: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Director: Naomi Charmetan
Tune in to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9
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