Proceedings of the 9 th International Scientific Conference Rural Development 2019 Edited by prof. Asta Raupelienė ISSN 1822-3230 (Print) ISSN 2345-0916 (Online) Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2019.085 Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Vytautas Magnus University. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. DECISION-MAKING PROCESS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC DYNAMICS OF AGRICULTURAL ACTORS. THE CASE OF A METHANISATION UNIT IN THE NORTH OF FRANCE Miravo RAKOTOVAO, InTerACT research unit, UniLaSalle Polytechnic Institute, Beauvais, France, miravo.rakotovao@unilasalle.fr (corresponding author) Lucile GODARD, Agro-Transfert Ressources et Territoires, Estrées-Mons, France, l.godard@agro-transfert-rt.org Loïc SAUVÉE, InTerACT research unit, UniLaSalle Polytechnic Institute, Beauvais, France, loic.sauvee@unilasalle.fr Currently, the agricultural sector is facing new challenges. In addition to meeting the population's food needs in sufficient quantity and quality, it must fulfill new energy and environmental functions as well as other non-food uses such as biomaterials and biomolecules. At the regional scale, there is an increase of non-food valorization projects of biomass, including the methanisation plants. In France, the methanisation sector is in full swing with a national target of 1,000 plants by 2020, as defined in the Energy Methanisation Nitrogen Energy plan (EMAA). The development of methanisation sector generates a regional dynamic involving different stakeholders and linking various business sectors. Then the regional methanisation becomes a collective process in which farmers, industrialists, waste managers and local communities are engaged. The objective of this communication consists on understanding the socio-economic conditions in which this kind of regional projects have emerged. For this purpose, the “Centrale de Biométhane du Vermandois”, a regional methanisation plant in the north of France was studied. This analysis contributes to identify the nature of the expectations of the actors engaged, to better understand the governance in place and the decision-making processes surrounding the project. The results show the success factors but also the difficulties of implementation and development of the project. The results also highlight the main motivations of farmers to join the biogas project. Keywords: non-food use of biomass, methanisation, farmers ‘motivations, agricultural dynamics, regional project INTRODUCTION Currently, the agricultural sector is facing new challenges. In addition to meeting the population's food needs in sufficient quantity and quality, it must fulfill new energy and environmental functions as well as other non-food uses such as biomaterials and biomolecules. At the regional scale, there is an increase of non-food valorization projects of biomass, including the methanisation plants. In France, the methanisation sector is in full swing with a national target of 1,000 plants by 2020, as defined in the Energy Methanisation Nitrogen Energy plan (EMAA). With 450 operational plants in 2016, the country is redoubling efforts to target an expansion of the sector. The development of methanisation sector generates a regional dynamic involving different stakeholders and linking various business sectors. Then the regional methanisation becomes a collective process in which farmers, industrialists, waste managers and local communities are engaged (Aissani et al., 2016). The challenge is therefore to carry out coherent actions of biomass use so that it generates favorable economic, social and environmental conditions for all stakeholders (Pacaud et al., 2013). The objective of this communication consists on understanding the socio-economic conditions in which this kind of regional projects have emerged. For this purpose, the “Centrale de Biométhane du Vermandois”, a regional methanisation plant in the north of France was studied. This analysis contributes to identify the nature of the expectations of the actors engaged, to better understand the governance in place and the decision-making processes surrounding the project. The northern region of France is not only an area strongly structured by agriculture, but it is also distinguished by the richness of its agricultural fabric, making it a suitable area for the development of the bioeconomy. RESEARCH METHOD Located in the industrial area of the municipality of Eppeville, the methanisation project focuses on the recovery of co-products and industrial waste as well as livestock and straw effluents. This project is considered to be one of the largest regional methanisation unit in the north of France. It is supplied with agricultural and agro- industrial biomass in an average radius of 30 km, at 28,000 tons per year. Nearly 85% of inputs come from agro- brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Vytautas Magnus University e-Journals