Dagens matproduktion har fått ökad uppmärksamhet kring hur den kan anpassas för att försörja en växande befolkning, utan att negativt påverka klimatet. Att ställa om till ekologiskt är en presenterad lösning och politiker på nationell och europeisk nivå har satt tydliga mål och åtgärder gällande ekologiskt jordbruk, dels om andelen ekologiskt jordbruk, dels om hur det ska uppnås. En åtgärd EU presenterat är ekodistrikt, som är ett geografiskt område där flera aktörer i livsmedelskedjan hållbart förvaltar de lokala resurserna genom ekologiska metoder och principer. Det har lett till ökad uppmärksamhet för redan befintliga ekodistrikt samt till etableringar av nya ekodistrikt, däribland det första svenska ekodistriktet i landskapet Södermanland, “Ekodistrikt Sörmland”. Rapportens syfte är att ge ökad förståelse för vad som definierar samt möjliggör ekodistrikt samt studera förutsättningar som finns för etableringen av Ekodistrikt Sörmland. I rapporten genomfördes en litteraturstudie om ekodistrikt med bland annat en tematisk analys där relevanta faktorer för etablering av ekodistrikt identifierades: “myndigheter och organisationer”, “bottom-up tillvägagångssätt”, “kultur och turism”, samt “jordbruksmöjligheter”. Även en fallstudie om Ekodistrikt Sörmland utfördes som inkluderade en litteraturstudie med en kompletterande intervju. Resultatet visade att ekodistrikt bygger kring dimensionerna ekologisk, social och ekonomisk hållbarhet och i Europeiska kommissionens definition av ekodistrikt framgår det att lokala resurser ska förvaltas hållbart i ett ekodistrikt. Mat i ekodistrikt ska produceras från ekologiska gårdar som minskar påverkan på miljön, jordbruket ska bli lönsamt genom nya marknadsmöjligheter och det sociala kapitalet stärks genom att ekodistrikt främja ökad sysselsättning på landsbygden. Möjligheten att etablera ekodistrikt skiljer sig mellan områden och olika förutsättningar kräver olika tillvägagångssätt. Tillgängliga litteraturen hänvisade till första etablerade ekodistriktet, Biodistretto Cilento, som anses som ‘best practice’ för ekodistrikt idag. Resultatet tyder på att det finns indikatorer som i generella fall tyder på goda förutsättningar att etablera ekodistrikt, men att dessa kan variera utefter lokala förutsättningar. Bilden som erhölls kring frågan vad möjliggör ekodistrikt är att ekodistrikt förlitar sig på kommunikation nerifrån och uppåt - från bönder till beslutsfattare, lokala samarbeten aktörer emellan mot annars icke identifierade gemensamma mål, samt innovativa lösningar och system utefter lokala förutsättningar och ekologiska principer. Ekodistrikt Sörmland planeras att omfatta landskapet Södermanland, bestående av Södermanlands län och södra delarna av Stockholms län. Vid rapportens tidpunkt var inte samtliga kontaktade. Ekodistriktet är del av och delfinansieras av ett treårigt EU-projekt. Initiativtagarna för ekodistriktet vill åstadkomma ett hållbart matsystem som baseras på Södermanlands lokala resurser och att öka allmänhetens kunskap om ekodistrikt. I nuläget är 21 procent av Södermanlands totala jordbruksareal ekologiskt och allmänheten har ett tidigare intresse för ekologiskt och lokalproducerat mat, vilket tyder på områdets potential för utveckling av ett ekodistrikt. Däremot det tidiga stadiet i etableringsprocessen, är det svårt att avgöra i denna rapport huruvida verksamheten kommer att fungera. Resultatet diskuteras därefter utefter de identifierade faktorer i relation till Ekodistrikt Sörmland, samt i vilken mån de kan appliceras och generaliseras på kommande ekodistrikt. / The current state of food production faces challenges, as to how it can be adapted to the increase in the global population, without the least impact on the earth's climate. The given course of action is an organic transition in order to achieve sustainable farming. One course of action, presented by the EU, are biodistricts (Swedish: ekodistrikt), a geographical area wherein stakeholders in the value chain sustainably co-manage the local resources through organic farming principles. EU’s recognition has enabled an increased focus on already established biodistricts, as well as the establishment of new ones, including the first Swedish biodistrict in the region of Södermanland, called "Ekodistrikt Sörmland". The purpose of this report is to provide an increased understanding of what defines and enables biodistricts, as well as to study the conditions for establishing a biodistrict in the region of Södermanland. This was achieved through a literature review on biodistricts, wherein thematic analysis was applied and revealed relevant factors for establishing ecodistricts: “authority and organization”, the “bottom-up approach”, “culture and tourism” and “agricultural capacity”. A case study on Ekodistrikt Sörmland was also performed, which included a complementary interview. The report findings showed that biodistricts are founded on the three dimensions of ecological, social and economic sustainability, through decreased environmental impact, increased market opportunities, and an increase in the local social capital through increased employment opportunities in the countryside. In identifying enabling factors for establishing a biodistrict, findings revealed that local conditions for establishment can vary widely, but that different conditions call for different solutions. Biodistricts rely on the bottom-up approach, wherein farmers communicate their needs to authority, and local cooperationco-management is encouraged through discussion, towards otherwise unidentified common goals, via innovative solutions and organic farming principles. Ekodistrikt Sörmland will include the region of Södermanland: Södermanland county and the south part of Stockholm county, as part of a 3 year EU financed project, wherein the founders aspire to create a sustainable food-system based on local resources and educational principles. As 21 % of the agricultural area in Södermanland is organic farmland, alongside a popular culture of environmental awareness and organic food, the area seems promising for the future development of the biodistrict. It is however too early to speculate on the inner workings of the district, as it is in its early planning phase. Conclusively, the identified enabling factors are discussed in relation to Ekodistrikt Södermanland.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a system whereby members purchase shares in a farm in the spring and then receive produce (maple syrup, meat, honey, vegetables, fruit, etc.) over the course of the growing season. The significance of this system is contested with critics, chiefly sociologist Julie Guthman (2008), asserting that CSA reproduces neoliberalism. Guthman's thesis on the relationship between practices, subjectivities, and political imaginaries is generative. My intervention is predominantly methodological. Guthman offers a systemic overview, in keeping with Michel Foucault's scholarship on governmentality, but does not explore the embodied nature of governmentality at the scale of the people involved. I contend that to understand how neoliberal governmentality plays out in CSA, we need to explore embodied practices at the scale of the people involved. I rely on Dorothy Smith's agent perspective and examine the practices associated with CSA for a discursive reading of those practices. My discursive reading employs J.K. Gibson-Graham's diverse economies approach. Participation in CSA cultivates a sense of connection to a local geographic community, and a community of practice, contrary to the seemingly individualized nature of the market transactions which form the basis of CSA. This sense of connection is supportive of prefigurative practices, farming practices, and activism. The relationality experienced by CSA farmers and members undergirds political activism, and the connection to communities of practice galvanizes and supports both discursive and protest practices. Attention to discourse at the scale of the individual provides insight into how discourses are co-produced and allows us to observe discourses in various stages of development, from those just entering the public square on social media, to those further developed, conceptually rich, with saliency for both farmers and members, and linked to political protest. The communities that exist in opposition to the individualization of neoliberalism, the production of discourse that both resists and reinscribes neoliberalism, and the practices that shape our subjects and political imaginaries, visible at this scale, provide insight into the connection between local and global discourses, and the connection between everyday practices and protest.

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As a response to the growing global sustainability challenges related to industrial agriculture, alternative approaches of food production and distribution are emerging. One approach that fosters direct consumer-producer relationships and sustainable local food production is known as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). This study explored how the CSA movement can be supported strategically towards a flourishing movement in Europe. A qualitative research approach was chosen with a comparative element of the two countries with contrastive characteristics in terms of the degree of successfulness of the movement; with France being successful and Sweden having less success in terms of the number of CSAs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 CSA farmers, network members and researchers. The results revealed barriers and enablers for a flourishing movement under five overarching themes: (1) Definition, structure and operation (2) The direction of the movement (3) Social aspects (4) Knowledge and communication, and (5) Country-/region-specific aspects. Crucial factors and contrastive features between countries were identified and discussed in relation to how they hinder or enable a flourishing movement. Based on the findings, strategic guidelines were developed with the aim of contributing to CSA practitioners and leaders in Europe.

La thèse étudie la dynamique et la persistance de l’inflation dans les pays en développement, particulièrement ceux des pays de la Zone UEMOA, en mettant en exergue les spécificités de ces économies. Le premier chapitre, consacré à l’évaluation de la persistance, révèle que le degré de persistance de l'inflation est faible dans ces pays, ce qui constitue un atout pour les autorités monétaires. Dans le chapitre 2, il a été défini un cadre théorique plus approprié à l’analyse de la persistance de l’inflation dans les pays de la sous-région. L’approche a permis de montrer que le degré de persistance de l’inflation dans ces pays ne dépendait pas uniquement des politiques monétaire et de change, mais aussi négativement du poids du secteur vivrier local dans l’économie. Dans le chapitre 3, la thèse analyse les écarts d’inflation dans les pays membres de l’UEMOA, en examinant la β-convergence des différentiels d'inflation. Les estimations révèlent que, d’une part, les écarts d’inflation se sont fortement réduits à l’intérieur de l'Union et que, d’autre part, ils restent fortement persistants avec la zone Euro. Le chapitre 4 est consacré à l’évaluation du rôle des différents facteurs et utilise ensuite une spécification spatiale en panel, pour tester les effets de contagion entre pays. Les estimations indiquent une prédominance des facteurs globaux et des effets de contagion entre pays dont l'ampleur dépend du poids des exportations de chaque pays vers les autres pays de la sous région. / This thesis examines the inflation dynamics and persistence in developing countries, especially in the UEMOA zone, highlighting the specificities of these economies. The first chapter, reveals that the inflation persistence degree, in these countries, is low which represents an asset to the monetary authorities. In Chapter 2, it was defined a more appropriate theoretical framework to analyze the inflation persistence in the countries of the sub-region. The approach allowed to demonstrate that the inflation persistence degree in these countries is not only dependent on monetary and exchange rate policies, but also negatively to the weight of local food sector in the economy. Chapter 3, analyzes the inflation differentials in the UEMOA member countries, by examining the β - convergence of inflation differentials. Estimations show that the inflation differentials are greatly reduced within the Union and they are highly persistent with the Euro zone. Chapter 4, is devoted to assessing the role of various factors and then uses a spatial panel specification to test the spillover effect between countries. Estimations indicate a predominance of global factors and contagion between countries whose magnitude depends on the weight of exports to other countries in the sub-region.