Organic Farming as a Commons for Protecting Water Resources / L’agriculture biologique comme bien commun pour protéger la ressource en eau

Today, organic farming is also a provider of public goods, promoted by an increasing number of actors. It may be seen as a “commons”, that has to be shaped and developed by new types of collective commitments to study. Two French experiences in that perspective aiming to protect water resources and led by local authorities have been analyzed. The study shows that the local authority behaves as a facilitator of territorial development plan. It acts through two complementary levers, the control of supply (land and ownership) and demand (institutional catering). Whereas environmental efficiency remains to be proved, the projects rely on an increasing collective mobilization and develop according to their ability for budding and territorial rooting. New modes of governance appear, that raise the questions of a local authority positioning in such plans and the invention of mixed institutional arrangements