A debate on food production organized at the Mirande high school

The Alain-Fournier high school has been participating for several years in the “Dispo” program (Dynamics of social and political innovation), an equal opportunities program aimed at students in disadvantaged situations, be they economic, social, family, cultural, disabled, gender or territorial. The goal is to reveal and support these students’ ambitions towards long-term higher education. This program was labeled “Cordées de la Réussite” in 2008.

The theme proposed this year to the students of the “Dispo” of 1st Mirande is “Food”. And in this context, at the Alain-Fournier high school in Mirande, a debate was held on the theme of food production in the presence of speakers: an organic horticulturist, Léon Fradon; a member of the Confédération paysanne, Jean-Claude Chatillon, and the vice president of the Jeunes Agriculteurs du Gers, Guillaume Fauqué, spoke on the so-called “conventional” production.

One written and one oral

Food production has therefore been the subject of debate, whether it is the production of meat or products of land cultivation. Various aspects were addressed: quality, distribution (local, national, global), environmental and economic weight, as well as social effects.

The students were able to find answers to their many questions, such as those about organic production, yield and cost. Current inflation is a question that leads them to reflect on the accessibility of organic for most families. Subsidies, the dangers of crop protection products (glyphosate, pesticides, pollution of groundwater and biodiversity), the margins of distributors, direct sales, many questions answered by the speakers. It was an open discussion for high school students, students, teachers and all BTS 1 students.

On Friday 17 March there is also a written paper on the subject and the students will have to prepare an oral for an interview at the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) of Toulouse which will be held on Tuesday 28 March. They set themselves the goal of answering the following question: “To what extent is the dependence of individuals on food exploited for economic, geopolitical and social ends? “.