Valuation of local breeds: methodological questions following interviews with Pyrenees goat farmers
Résumé
Animal domestic biodiversity, and particularly local breeds, are considered as an interesting potential lever for agroecological transition. It is important to understand the role played by local breeds in livestock farming systems,
and the perception of this role by concerned actors. To do so, it is a key point to take into account individual and collective values associated to the animals of a given breed, and valuations of those local breeds and local breeds
animals. Moreover, It is necessary to consider values without restricting the approach to economic values, as those values can be very diverse (for instance social, esthetical, etc.). As a consequence, taking into account those diverse
values and valuations raise methodological questions. How approaches using semi structured interviews, quite common in livestock farming system researches, can tackle this question of values and valuation? Does this question involve
specific ways to analyse qualitative data? Based on a reflexive analysis of Pyrenees goat farmers’ semi structured interviews, we show: (1) the interest of gathering qualitative data about personal trajectories of the farmers to identify
valuation moments during those trajectories; and (2) the limits of interviews to identify valuation processes. We finally put in perspective this analysis with bibliography from diverse scientific fields. We make hypothesis about the interest
of narratives production and practices observation, to go further in understanding values and valuations associated with the use of local breeds. We conclude that to tackle such questions, enlarged interdisciplinary approaches are needed.