How Can Collective Action Support the Agroecological Transition in Geographical Indication Vineyards? Insights from the Loire Valley Wine Area

Collective action, structured through polycentric governance and overlapping institutional frameworks, plays a pivotal role in advancing agroecological transitions in viticulture. A study of the Anjou-Saumur wine region in France's Loire Valley—where 80% of production is under protected designations of origin—revealed that dynamic interactions between top-down and bottom-up strategies, facilitated by key actors and tacit organizational rules, drive sustainable practice adoption. Applying Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development framework alongside Social–Ecological Systems analysis, researchers identified three focal action situations that coordinate efforts across temporal and geographical scales. This novel application of theoretical lenses highlights the potential for interdisciplinary strategies to accelerate agroecological change in French viticultural systems.

Ruggieri, F., Coulon-Leroy, C., & Mazé, A. (2023). How Can Collective Action Support the Agroecological Transition in Geographical Indication Vineyards? Insights from the Loire Valley Wine Area. Sustainability, 15(12), 9371. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15129371