Meet the FABLE French team
The team is led by the Institute du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales (IDDRI). IDDRI is an independent policy research institute and a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform that identifies conditions and proposes tools to put sustainable development at the heart of international relations and public and private policies. It is an acknowledged high-level think-tank in France and Europe and has a dedicated program on agriculture and food transition.
Alongside IDDRI, the French FABLE consortium consists of:
an INRAE research unit. working on herbivores farming systems, especially in the light of climate change adaptation.
an AScA expert, working on agroecology transition in France and Europe
Their common field of interest consists of exploring future pathways for sustainable food and land use systems. The role and place of different livestock systems within broader farming systems (crop-specialized, mixed) poses several challenges, including climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity protection, and water and soil management, as well as, more broadly, the intensity of nitrogen and pesticide use in French and EU agriculture. Alongside those environmental and ecological issues, the team addresses socio-economic challenges in the context of ageing farmers facing economic difficulties. French and EU agriculture and the livestock sector are at turning point, with high uncertainty in the continuation of current forms of farming in large part of the territory.
Models used by the team: TYFAm, Orfee and the FABLE Calculator.
Transforming food and land-use systems in France
French agriculture and the French food system are currently facing climate change, biodiversity decline in open agricultural ecosystems ( notably due to the loss of extensive grassland), and a decline in the number of farms and livestock, which is leading to farming practice simplification, the destabilization of local industries, and the exacerbation of the agricultural trade deficit in a context where demand remains higher than production. The French food system is at the crossroads of “commodification” strategies and the maintenance of territorial-related food quality sectors.
From our perspective, the mainstream political and socio-technical paths to address such challenges create a risk of “misadaptation” in the medium tolong term, while the resilience and sustainability of agroecosystems are not fully addressed, nor is their contribution to meeting French climate objectives.
The Nitrogen cycle appears as a relevant analytical framework for addressing most sustainability challenges within agriculture:
Climate, through direct emissions and major indirect effects associated with crop and livestock intensification relying on heavy use of synthetic N fertilizers
Biodiversity, as excessive N use alters the functioning of natural ecosystems, particularly grasslands, which contain most of the high-nature-value open habitats in France and Europe
Natural resources, such as water (pollution) and soils (C/N balance). Nitrogen use can be correlated to pesticide-use.
Key national objectives and targets
COP26- Carbon Neutrality/Net Zero Targets:
The French agenda falls within the wider EU framework as set by the Green Deal, consisting of the reduction of total projected carbon emissions by 55% up to 2030 as compared to 2017.
The Stratégie Nationale Bas Carbone (SNBC) is currently under discussion for its 3rd version and has not yet been adopted (January 2026). For agriculture and land-use, the share of biomass use for renewable energy is particularly under scrutiny when compared to other uses such as food, feed and soil conservation (C back to soils).
Achieving the target of net zero emissions is expected by 2050.
Biodiversity conservation Targets:
France has set a biodiversity strategy for 2030. Agriculture and Food are one of the 8 components of this strategy.
Without going into further detail, agroecology is identified as an overarching goal for French agriculture in this context, with grasslands and extensive livestock systems playing a particular role in achieving this commitment.
Policy engagement
The team has engaged with a wide range of stakeholders to inform discussions and decisions around sustainable food and land-use systems in France and Europe. These actors include:
European Commission
European Parliament
French Ministry of Agriculture
French Ministry of Ecological Transition
Secretariat for Ecological Plan (Government – PM)
Main sectors organisations across the whole value chains (crops and livestock)
Main environmental public agencies: Ademe, OFB
National NGOs
Regional authorities (Auvergne Rhône-Alpes)
Publications
Aubert, P.-M. (2025). Vers un nouveau modèle agricole : Quelle transition pour la France et l’Europe? Odile Jacob.
Mosnier, C., & Acloque, D. (2025, August). Livestock farm strategies to cope with a hot and arid climate: The case of Qatar. Paper presented at the 8th International Farming System Design Conference, Palaiseau, France. HAL. https://hal.science/hal-05250732.
Mosnier, C., de La Foye, A., & Veysset, P., & Unité Mixte de Recherche sur les Herbivores – UMR 1213 (UMRH); VetAgro Sup – Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement (VAS) – INRAE. (2025). Vulnérabilité, adaptation, atténuation face au changement climatique de l'élevage de ruminants et de porcins : Scénarios et projections climatiques à l’horizon 2050 [Preprint]. CCSD. https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05023035.
Poux, X. (2025). Revisiter les enjeux climat et biodiversité en lien avec les ruminants en Europe à l’aune des nouvelles métriques climat: arguments pour un élevage agroécologique favorable au climat et à la biodiversité. AScA. https://hal.science/hal-05135626v1/file/Rapport%20OFB_AScA_2_V3%20.pdf.
Veysset, P., & Boivent, C. (2025). Climatic hazard resilience assessment on livestock farms: Application to organic ruminant farms in the French Massif Central. Agricultural Systems, 222, 104150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2024.104150.
Aubert, P.-M. (2024). « De la ferme à la table » : les raisons d’un échec et comment rebondir. L'Économie politique, 101(1), 73-82. https://shs.cairn.info/revue-l-economie-politique-2024-1-page-73?lang=fr.
Veysset, P., Kouakou, E., & Minviel, J.-J. (2023). Productivity gains, evolution of productive performances, and profitability of organic ruminant farms: Farm size and feed self-sufficiency matter. Organic Agriculture, 13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13165-023-00422-9.
Mosnier, C., Benoit, M., Minviel, J. J., & Veysset, P. (2022). Does mixing livestock farming enterprises improve farm and product sustainability? International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 20(3), 312–326. https://doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2021.1932150.
Poux, X., & Aubert, P.-M. (2022). Putting permanent grassland at the heart of a European agroecological transition: Findings and questions arising from the ‘Ten Years for Agroecology’ (TYFA) scenario. Grass and Forage Science, 77(4), 257–269. https://doi.org/10.1111/gfs.12597.
Mosnier, C., Dubosc, N., Abdouttalib, I., Candau, D., Carel, Y., Chauvat, S., Fougy, F., Guerre, É., Magnin, L., & Ramonteu, S. (2020). Quelles évolutions possibles pour les systèmes de polyculture-élevage ? Résultats d’ateliers participatifs et de modélisation dans quatre régions françaises. Cahiers Agricultures, 29, 30.
Mosnier, C., Mondière, A., Brunschwig, G., & Veysset, P. (2020, January). Utilisation de la modélisation comme support de réflexion aux systèmes polyculture élevage. Paper presented at the Symposium PSDR4 Transitions pour le développement des territoires, Dijon, France. HAL. https://hal.science/hal-04732850.
Mosnier, C., Veysset, P., Jarousse, A., & Madrange, P. (2020). Evaluation of 16 European beef production systems contribution to food security. Commentary presented at the 71st Annual Meeting
