Construction of prices for organic products enhancing farmers’ profiles diversity in the South East of France

Summary

The Provence-Côte d’Azur region is a French leader for organic farming, both in term of bulk production and number of farmers. This study aims at identifying organic farmers’ profiles diversity within the region and at creating a framework in order to understand the construction of prices for organic food. Targeting technical, economical and marketing channel choices issues, elaboration of prices for organic commodities is studied through 20 interviews, where farmers’ values were also considered. As results, first enhancement of the organic products is highly correlated to the natural and logistic resources. Moreover, most organic farmers have elaborated innovative marketing channels in order to cope with the local supply and demand. Indeed, a large number of farmers are involved in direct selling, even in combination with other marketing channels, in order to enhance their production through prices. Finally, farmers’ values have an important influence on final prices. Indeed several organic farmers pay a great attention to social, ethical, environmental issues, beyond a basic compliance with the organic standards. As a result, fairness, environmental issues, or rural development lead farmers to implement innovative techniques and marketing strategies with a final incidence on price construction.