Conference paper, poster, etc. #40794

Summary translation

As we observed it in the Eastern France, organic dairy breeders usually say that they are "more at ease with themselves" than their conventional colleagues. They feel that their farms are more liveable. In this article, we try to understand the different meanings of such an assertion. As it was repeated in different circumstances, we analysed it at a social construction, which informs us about professional identity of French organic farmers. Our aim is to assess if these farmers form a different social group than the conventional producers, and if they are able to change the frontiers and the culture of the agricultural profession. This article is based on a sociological study led in the Vosges on dairy breeders who convert to organic over the past txenty-five years. In thes meadowland area, organic farmers are all heirs of the family farm, which has been largely shaped by the agricultural modernization policies. Biographic interviews have been made with eleven farmers. A discourse analyses has been realized, in order to identify social representations and values of these producers. We have built two ideal-typical life-stories, which give a different place to conversion to organic in the farmer's professional carrier. If these breeders have different practices than conventional ones, they still belong to the same social and professional world. But they are taken part in creating a new professional model