Biovallée Project

France

France’s Drôme Valley, consisting of 54,000 inhabitants in 102 small towns and villages, has undergone a paradigm shift towards organic agriculture over the past few decades. Today, 40% of the valley’s farmers use organic practices, compared to just 8% nationwide. The Biovallée Project, formed in 2009, is working to accelerate this trend and steward a region-wide sustainable development masterplan that will serve as a blueprint for the rest of France. The 204 members of the Association of Biovallée Actors work with government at the district and national level to plan and implement alternative energy production, conversion to organic agriculture, waste reduction, local food procurement for institutions, land use planning to slow urbanization, and more. To learn more, browse through the Biovallée website (in French) and read a detailed history of Drôme Valley’s organic production in this report from iPES-Food.

Photo by Lacunes (CC BY-SA 3.0).