In the last 30 years, Geographical Indications (GIs) for foodstuffs have been seen as means for rural development because of linking the quality attributes of a product to a specific territory. Nonetheless, the fundamental idea of tying product’s quality to particular places is a very ancient notion, and can be dated back to Greek and Roman civilizations (Allaire, 2011). Although we can identify some examples of sui generis GIs in medieval Hungary or in modern Portugal (Meloni and Swinnen, 2018), France stand out as the germ of current European GI system given the prominence of the concept of terroir. Research on the latter term has been evolving from edafoclimatic and agronomic studies to conceptions close to vidalian regions, where human factors are also crucial to the distinctiveness of some foodstuffs (Moustier and Consales, 2007). Indeed, current research on Systémes Agrarires Localisés (SYAL) pays special attention on the original spatial configurations that shape singular food productions. Since the approval of EU regulations, GIs went also assimilated by the research on Alternative Food Networks. Within this framework, new ideas of quality such as traceability and sustainability were incorporated but, above all, greater attention was paid on its social construction and governance (Sonnino, 2007). Despite their differences, both SYAL and AFN spatial/territorial perspectives are paying an increasing attention to the performance of GIs in relation with rural development. Combined, they represent a solid framework to assess its effects. As concluding remarks, rural geography can hold a central role in these studies by critically assessing the construction of those spaces and questioning the scope of its positive impacts.
Mots clés : Geographical Indications|Terroir|Rural development
A104056RB