“A food system includes all agents, services and institutions responsible for the production, distribution, access, consumption and storage of food” (Pillon, 2011).

Territorialised food systems are an emerging alternative to the globalized food system. The globalized food system, structured by very large industrial firms both for input trades (seeds …) and for food products often highly processed, has limits (impoverishment of farmers, degradation of natural resources, malnutrition but also increase of obesity …). Unlike globalized food systems, territorialised food systems aim to:

• invent / promote production and consumption models which are more respectful of the environment and of health,
• reduce waste along the food chain,
• promote local products in local chains,
• permit a better sharing of the value created in the territory.

The aim of territorialised food systems is the relocation of food at the scale of a territory, taking into account the challenges of its sustainable development, thus participating in an agroecological approach. Territorialised food systems include production, processing, distribution, consumption and waste management organizations as well as their interrelations in a specific territory. They are based on the partnership between a multitude of territorial actors: private, public and civil society members. The increase of product value in often short value chains allows to structure and consolidate these chains in the territories. This dynamic encourages the setting up of new farmers and innovative networks of small and medium-sized agrifood businesses. Lastly, territorialised food systems aim at improving public health and providing a fairer food justice.

Many territorialised food systems can count on the support, in particularly financial support, of territorial public policies (cities, regions), in a favourable national and European context (“Loi d’avenir” French law of 13^th October 2014).