In Corsica, extensive pig breeding systems allow frequent interactions between wild boars and domestic pigs, which are suspected to act as reservoirs of several zoonotic diseases including hepatitis ...E virus (HEV). In this context, 370 sera and 166 liver samples were collected from phenotypically characterized as pure or hybrid wild boars, between 2009 and 2012. In addition, serum and liver from 208 domestic pigs belonging to 30 farms were collected at the abattoir during the end of 2013. Anti-HEV antibodies were detected in 26% (21%-31.6%) of the pure wild boar, 43.5% (31%-56.7%) of hybrid wild boar and 88% (82.6%-91.9%) of the domestic pig sera. In addition, HEV RNA was detected in five wild boars, three hybrid wild boars and two domestic pig livers tested. Our findings provide evidence that both domestic pig and wild boar (pure and hybrid) act as reservoirs of HEV in Corsica, representing an important zoonotic risk for Corsican hunters and farmers but also for the large population of consumers of raw pig liver specialties produced in Corsica. In addition, hybrid wild boars seem to play an important ecological role in the dissemination of HEV between domestic pig and wild boar populations, unnoticed to date, that deserves further investigation.
International research and development organizations have acknowledged that localized agrifood systems, particularly geographical indications (GIs), are a lever for evolving towards sustainable ...agriculture. Such a premise is neither spontaneous nor systematic. Research and development organizations show their limit in proposing approaches to overcome this raised issue: The performance-based approach of sustainability, associated with a strict economical understanding of activities, is at stake. We propose the introduction of a values-based approach to the understanding of localized activities and their contribution to sustainability. We base our demonstration on the study of the relationships between stakeholders within GIs on a day-to-day basis: Corsica and Western Pyrenees (WP) are regions where traditional cheeses (respectively GI Brocciu and GI Ossau-Iraty) are produced with ewe milk. We build a typology of relationships between farmers providing the milk and dairies, based on the theory of worlds of worth (from industrial to artisanal). We cross-reference it with values given to milk and cheese. Despite the framing role of GIs, milk is mainly valued according to industrial criteria of quantity and sound farming practices have no weightage. However, artisanal and civic initiatives have emerged using raw milk and fostering more sustainable practices, notably based on organic farming. Though those initiatives are currently marginal, they might be promising seeds of change.
Owing to the intensified domestication process with artificial trait selection, introgressive hybridisation between domestic and wild species poses a management problem. Traditional free-range ...livestock husbandry, as practiced in Corsica and Sardinia, is known to facilitate hybridisation between wild boars and domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). Here, we assessed the genetic distinctness and genome-wide domestic pig ancestry levels of the Corsican wild boar subspecies S. s. meridionalis, with reference to its Sardinian conspecifics, employing a genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) assay and mitochondrial control region (mtCR) haplotypes. We also assessed the reliance of morphological criteria and the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) coat colour gene to identify individuals with domestic introgression. While Corsican wild boars showed closest affinity to Sardinian and Italian wild boars compared to other European populations based on principal component analysis, the observation of previously undescribed mtCR haplotypes and high levels of nuclear divergence (Weir's θ > 0.14) highlighted the genetic distinctness of Corsican S. s. meridionalis. Across three complementary analyses of mixed ancestry (i.e., STRUCTURE, PCADMIX, and ELAI), proportions of domestic pig ancestry were estimated at 9.5% in Corsican wild boars, which was significantly higher than in wild boars in Sardinia, where free-range pig keeping was banned in 2012. Comparison of morphologically pure- and hybrid-looking Corsican wild boars suggested a weak correlation between morphological criteria and genome-wide domestic pig ancestry. The study highlights the usefulness of molecular markers to assess the direct impacts of management practices on gene flow between domestic and wild species.
Existing frameworks offer a holistic way to evaluate a food system based on sustainability indicators but can fall short of offering clear direction. To analyze the sustainability of a geographical ...indication (GI) system, we adopt a product-centered approach that begins with understanding the product qualification along the value-chain. We use the case of the GI Corsican grapefruit focusing on understanding the quality criteria priorities from the orchard to the store. Our results show that certain compromises written into the Code of Practices threaten the system’s sustainability. Today the GI allows the fruit to be harvested before achieving peak maturity and expectations on visual quality lead to high levels of food waste. Its primary function is to help penetrate mainstream export markets and to optimize labor and infrastructure. Analyzing the stakeholders’ choices of qualification brings to light potential seeds for change in the short run such as later springtime harvests, diversification of the marketing channels, and more leniency on the fruit’s aesthetics. These solutions lead us to reflect on long-term pathways to sustainable development such as reinforcing the fruit’s typicality, reducing food waste, reorganizing human resources, and embedding the fruit into its territory and the local culture.
A global expansion in public and private initiatives seeks to strengthen the link between traditional products and sustainable development by creating a niche in the market for these products. ...Relevant examples are the Geographical Indications and the Slow Food Presidia models. This paper compares both types of Origin Food Schemes (OFS) to disclose the main commonalities and differences in their institutionalization, and their complex outcomes on cultural biodiversity (CB), which is a major concern for the sustainability of rural communities. We used underpinning knowledge dynamics as an analytical lens through the cross-comparison of ethnographic findings collected in four case studies of origin cheeses located in France, Italy and Morocco. Our findings suggest that OFS have high potential to defend CB because of their collective and context-dependent approaches. We argue that knowledge and practices mobilized in OFS are the result of power relations and confrontations among local actors, and show how four identified tensions between different forms and types of knowledge differently shape food culture, food technique, perceptions, and representations. In conclusion, the institutional approaches, practices and knowledge dynamics compared in this analysis show six effective ways to link OFS and CB, facilitating the trajectory toward sustainable development.
Many enteric viruses are found in pig farms around the world and can cause death of animals or important production losses for breeders. Among the wide spectrum of enteric viral species, porcine ...Sapelovirus (PSV), porcine Kobuvirus (PKoV) and porcine Astrovirus (PAstV) are frequently found in pig feces. In this study we investigated sixteen pig farms in Corsica, France, to evaluate the circulation of three enteric viruses (PKoV, PAstV-1 and PSV). In addition to the three viruses studied by RT-qPCR (908 pig feces samples), 26 stool samples were tested using the Next Generation Sequencing method (NGS). Our results showed viral RNA detection rates (i) of 62.0% 58.7-65.1 (n = 563/908) for PSV, (ii) of 44.8% 41.5-48.1 (n = 407/908) for PKoV and (iii) of 8.6% 6.8-10.6 (n = 78/908) for PAstV-1. Significant differences were observed for all three viruses according to age (P-value = 2.4e-13 for PAstV-1; 2.4e-12 for PKoV and 0.005 for PSV). The type of breeding was significantly associated with RNA detection only for PAstV-1 (P-value = 9.6e-6). Among the 26 samples tested with NGS method, consensus sequences corresponding to 10 different species of virus were detected. This study provides first insight on the presence of three common porcine enteric viruses in France. We also showed that they are frequently encountered in pigs born and bred in Corsica, which demonstrates endemic local circulation.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Despite their crucial importance for food product quality, harvest management practices remain understudied. Harvest is particularly challenging in the fresh fruit sector, due to the fruit’s ...perishable, variable, and seasonal nature. In this study, we seek to better understand the agronomic, organizational, and institutional drivers influencing fruit harvest management, using the Corsican clementine harvest as a case study. In that production area, the standard “Clémentine de Corse” protected geographical indication is used by local actors to define and enforce appropriate harvest practices. The data were gathered through interviews with the farmers, packing station managers, and shippers who form the first link in the production chain. We show that harvest practices are shaped by the interactions between three management levels: (i) the plot, where picking teams select the fruit to be picked from those to be left on the tree for the next pass; (ii) the farm level, at which growers synchronize the harvesting dynamics with the ripening process of a set of plots with heterogeneous degrees of maturity; and (iii) the marketing level, where shippers and packers must match up the harvesting dynamics of all their suppliers with the demands of their buyers’ market. According to this multi-level perspective, we analyzed the agronomic, organizational, and institutional drivers influencing the diversity of harvest management practices among farmers, and the influence of the protected geographical indication on the harvest process. Our study is the first to highlight how harvest practices are constructed and how various hierarchical levels of agricultural systems act together to shape them. Based on these results, we draw generic lessons and perspectives with a view to improving fresh fruit harvest management.
•Terroirs are spatially determined socio-technical niches with distinctive agri-food systems.•Specific resources are a powerful protection mechanism that mitigates niche-regime tensions.•Geographical ...Indications are governance frameworks for terroir niches.•Our study opens prospects for cross-fertilization between GI studies and the Multi-Level Perspective on transitions.
The green revolution and globalization have profoundly transformed agri-food systems, leading to standardized food products of diminished taste quality. Geographical Indications (GIs) have emerged as powerful regulatory tools for sustaining alternative quality models. In this paper, we analyze GIs as governance tools for “terroir niches”, viewed as sociotechnical systems whose functioning is influenced by specific resources. Building on this framework, we study the reconfiguration of the Corsican clementine production area under a recent Geographical Indication. We show that the innovation trajectory was driven by specific resources (climate, with-leaf marketing), leading to the emergence of a niche that conflicted with the rules of the citrus regime. The implementation of a GI in the early 2000s strengthened this endogenous innovation pathway since it gave the niche renewed protection and prompted systemic changes. These results open prospects for cross-fertilization between GI studies and the Multi-Level Perspective on sustainability transitions.
Geographical indications in France are governed since 1935 by a unique mixed public/private Institute set-up on the failure of the State to define GIs. This mixed body, the National Institute of ...Appellation of Origin, composed of representatives of public authorities and producers’ Organization was weakened due to a moving context in France, Europe, and worldwide. The transfer of activities of control of GIs to private certification organization on the one end and the increased involvement of the EU Commission on the other end questions the future of INAO and affects the attractiveness of GIs and hence rural development.
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