Case study: multidimensional comparison of local and global fresh tomato supply chains in France (task 3.5)

Summary

Tomato is one of the most consumed vegetables in Europe. In South of France and Spain, tomatoes are produced, exported or imported, through a diversity of chains. This report presents the results of performance assessment of three contrasted chains representing main trends in those areas: one global chain, from Almeria, Spain, to South of France and involving producer organizations; two local chains, conventional and organic, in South of France. We first describe the context of the chains, and the research questions we designed from the main issues associated with these chains in the professional press. Then, we detail the final list of attributes, indicators and sub-indicators which we selected, in an iterative process between theory and practice, to respond to these questions, and cover the five dimensions of chains performance in the case study. Data have been collected or produced through literature review, interviews and a collective workshop. Results confirm that global and local chains are both globally performant, but at different levels and regarding specific indicators. While global chains tend to perform better in the economic dimension, local chains show better scores in the other dimensions (social, environmental, health, ethics); agricultural and governance models in each chain have nevertheless a strong impact, and unexpected results have been found. Further work has to be done to better compare results, and get feed-back to research questions and for practical implications, while accounting for the theoretical and methodological limits of the case study.