Can citizens help produce knowledge to reconcile livestock farming and society? An experiment in the Massif central France[Les citoyens peuvent-ils participer à produire des connaissances pour réconcilier élevage et société ? Une expérimentation dans le Massif central]

Participatory approaches involving not only farmers but also citizens in the design of desirable futures in agriculture are developing, but remain quite limited and little studied in the field of livestock farming where the crisis of confidence with society is growing. Citizens are often only consulted to identify their perception or to promote the acceptability of innovations. Our article proposes to broaden the way in which the role of citizens in the design processes of future livestock systems can be envisaged, by proposing an analytical framework to characterize the learning dynamics generated during the participation of citizens in an intermediation system in this sector. Based on the analysis of exchanges between participants during the workshop and qualitative surveys conducted a posteriori, we highlight that the participation of citizens within this system has generated (i) the recognition and exchange of different types of knowledge as well as (ii) the integration of values which led to (iii) a reframing of the issues and the formulation of new problems, and (iv) changes in perception, posture and practices, questioning the future of research on livestock farming systems.