Social food security, the story of an emerging idea

In Cadenet, a small rural town of 5,000 inhabitants in Vaucluse, Social Food Security has been under construction since 2021. In Paris, the capital of more than 2 million inhabitants, the Paris Council decided on Wednesday November 15, on the proposal of the environmental group, that it would be tested from September 2024 in three voluntary arrondissements (the 14th, 18th and 20th arrondissements). Elsewhere, in Montpellier, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Clermont-Ferrand, Bordeaux or Valence, a big twenty territories have already launched in France, according to the Social Security of Food collective.

But what is this concept, which seems to be tempting more and more territories and should inspire a future bill, announced by the end of the year by Modem deputy for Loiret Richard Ramos? “It’s a relatively recent idea. which comes from both researchers and activists from the agricultural world”, explains Benjamin Sèze, author of the book When eating well becomes a luxury, putting an end to food insecurity (Editions de l’Atelier).

Born in 2017, within the Agrista group of Engineers Without Borders, which works alongside Réseau salariat, the Confédération paysanne, or even the group of farmers and rural people united within Civam, the idea « vient of the desire to transform our current food system, dominated by the agri-food industry, to remedy a certain number of dysfunctions”, continues Benjamin Sèze.

A card with monthly credit

“It has in fact been observed that not only does this system create major health problems (obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, etc.) but that it also requires intensive agriculture, which is harmful in environmental terms and which does not allow farmers to live with dignity, continues Benjamin Sèze. Finally, it creates social inequalities since not only can the poorest households not all be able to feed themselves, but they also have access to poorer quality food because it is the least expensive. »

To achieve a more virtuous model in terms of health, ecological and social matters, the pioneers choose not to create yet another alternative offer but “to propose a complete transformation of the model, which involves producers, distributors and consumers at the same time”adds Nicole Darmon, research director at the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae).

This involves taking inspiration from Social Security to offer everyone, rich or poor, a sort of Vitale food card, credited with a certain sum, for example €150 per person per month, which would be financed by social security contributions. As with Social Security, the system would be administered by local primary funds, supposed to represent citizens and responsible for approving the places, corresponding to a certain number of environmental and social criteria, defined democratically, where this money could be spent.

Experiments with digital currencies

But, specifies Nicole Darmon, “we must distinguish the concept and local experiments which each differ from each other”. In addition, the legal impossibility of collecting social security contributions and the need to experiment on a small scale make subsidies necessary.

Thus in Cadenet, the founding association worked a lot on the local democracy aspect to choose the actors to enter into agreements. Thanks to a grant from the Fondation de France, around thirty families were provided with €150 at the start of 2023. As with medicines, their purchases are reimbursed either 100%, for certain organic and local products, or 70%, or at 35%.

In Montpellier, a common food fund, financed by contributions from citizens according to their means, supplemented by public and private subsidies, allows willing residents to have €100 to pay for their purchases via a digital currency, in places pre-selected food distribution systems.

In Bordeaux, since October 2023, 150 student volunteers have been drawn at random on campus to receive, for a contribution of €10 per month, the equivalent of €100 in digital currency to spend in partner stores. Following an evaluation in 2024, the experiment may be extended.