PlantCoopLab, cooperating with plants for sustainable food systems ; PlantCoopLab, coopérer avec les plantes pour une alimentation durable

International audience ; While the standing of animals in production systems is a subject of debate, the definition of food sustainability does not imply any special consideration for plants. Yet, the view of plants and food as a central technological ingredient in our culture of convenience needs to be contrasted with a recent “plant turn” that calls for reassessing the standing of plants. The PlantCoopLab project finds its inspiration in this observation and aims to promote an attitudinal shift or reorientation in values. To overcome the view of plant food as device, the emphasis is put on labor and agentivity. In the rationale of economic production, to do generally means to produce goods or services through labor. In the case of plants, does “to do” also mean labor? What does the act of “being at work” imply for plants and when working with plants? The challenge is to depart from a functionalist and mechanistic interpretation of plant life, without falling into the trap of a speculative interpretation. The recognition of plant labor is taken as a means for changing practices necessary for the supply of sustainable foods. It seeks to acknowledge the interconnection between farmers co-acting skills and comprehension and the actual agentive ecology of food production. Finally, it endeavors to develop a vision of sustainability that can oppose the social disburdenment that contribute to increasingly industrialized agriculture ; Autant le statut des animaux dans les systèmes productifs fait l’objet de débats, autant la définition de la durabilité alimentaire n’implique aucun égard particulier pour les plantes. Le projet PlantCoopLab trouve son inspiration dans ce constat et dans le « tournant végétal » qui appelle à revisiter le statut des plantes. Dans une logique de production économique, faire signifie en général produire des biens ou des services par le travail. Dans le cas des plantes, le « faire » est-il aussi un travail ? Sans pour autant impliquer une personnification, cette question permet de repenser ...