Imagining and carrying out sociotechnical projects in participatory action research: an example in viticulture

The challenges of sustainable development are widely recognized, yet the agenda is constantly being postponed. Among the human activities impacting on the environment, intensive agriculture, which uses pesticides, is increasingly criticized . Winegrowing, with 7.5 million hectares of vines cultivated worldwide, enjoys a reputation based on the quality of its wines and the landscapes it shapes for tourism; hedonism and economic success are associated with it. However, this same viticulture is one of the agricultural sectors that makes the greatest use of pesticides with the greatest environmental impact, such as herbicides applied to the soil or synthetic pesticides used to combat vine diseases and insects, on 89% of the world's cultivated surface area for conventional practices. Organic and biodynamic viticultural practices (10% and 1% of acreage respectively), on the other hand, have a reputation for lower environmental impact, as they use natural products rather than herbicides to ensure the health of the vines. Faced with this situation, society is increasingly mobilized against conventional viticulture practices, even taking them to court. However, the proportion of vineyards in all countries has changed very little over the years. While of all the levers of action for sustainable development – even to reduce CO ₂ emissions and even fix CO ₂ in plants and soils – agriculture is undoubtedly one of the strongest, why is the situation evolving only very slowly? What are the constraints to change?

Some constraints are linked to the vines grown, all of which are susceptible to disease, and to the fact that they must remain in place for more than 15 years to produce quality wines. Others are linked to increasingly frequent climatic disturbances, aggravating...