Axel de Martene
Food systems for thoughts in a disrupted world
Diving in the rabbit hole
My career path has taken me from local government "to the corridors of power", to the French government, the European Commission and China. I worked a lot on agricultural policies before investing in new economic and financial tools to support transitions.
I am a man, French, white, from generation X, married and father of 2 children. Whether I like it or not, this baggage imposes a certain number of biases on me to look at the world. I try to take it into account, but above all I know that it is necessary
Faced with all the wonderful initiatives that I have been able to encounter, I keep asking myself how to scale them up: how to create agroecology, the bioeconomy, the circular economy or solutions based on nature the new foundations of our societies? I wrote this book, “Changing the rules of the game”, to try to establish a more global, systemic framework for thinking about the different tools – economic, financial, technological or governance – that we have today to carry out transitions, but also to confront them with the obstacles to change and open a way to overcome them. Tackling the subject of the transformation of food systems is like diving into the white rabbit hole of Alice in Wonderland: as my research progressed, I constantly discovered new scientific advances, experiments innovative initiatives, inspiring initiatives or astonishing collaborations... but also striking parallels with other events in our history or other economic, financial or political obstacles to help us rethink the future. Since I'm the type of guy to first read the bibliography of my readings and go back to the source of the source of the source... this dive into the heart of the calorie supply machine could have gone on for a long time. My editors, Audrey and François, are wonderful personalities, very patient and committed, but they also played their role of Ockham's razor perfectly: not being cluttered with the superfluous, not getting lost in too many digressions. It was necessary to put an end to this work! This blog is therefore the logical continuation of this work: so many questions still unanswered, so many fields to explore, words to give, diagrams to highlight, solutions to share... that I will try to bring to life here.
About
This blog is not here to give advice on what to eat or what farming should be done. On the contrary, we will see above all that we need to more widely diversify practices, farms, food circuits and our consumption patterns.
This blog, however, is not a catalog of ready-made magical recipes, ready to impose: it will not be a question here of debating on the fact of eating organic or stopping meat... on the fact of banning pesticides or on the power of lobbies... all these debates are only symptoms, visible and important, of course, but the changes to be made are much deeper than that! This blog is also not a commercial showcase for my books, for my activities or, above all, for anyone's interests! Audrey, François and I would obviously be delighted for you to embark on this fascinating journey into the world that we eat, to go further into your own reflections on the impact of our small daily gestures on the world. You will find the summaries of the 3 volumes and the links on this blog. I would be equally delighted if your organization – company, union, community, school, etc. – sought my insight to advance your own thoughts or imagine transformative projects. It’s my activity and I don’t hide it. But I have the chance to work independently, linked to no interests and I express myself here with this requirement. This blog receives no remuneration and receives even fewer editorial instructions from anyone! So if you too want to “converge for action and reflection on contemporary economic processes”, if you want to “develop an alternative economy”, to use the words of British anthropologists Jeffrey Pratt Peter Luetchford, I wish you a good read!