Fruit and vegetable growers in the Rhone plain in Valais, Switzerland : A local identity shaken up by the third Rhone correction

Résumé En

: In the Rhone plain in the Valais, Switzerland, a dynamic and productive area has been developed over the years in the context of the engineering works to control the river's course. This taming of nature has provided a basis for constructing an identity for the area's fruit and vegetable growers, an endeavour in une with a local vision of man seeking to control and leave his mark on the landscape. Consequently, these farmers are attached to their role as producers and to the technical skills that have been developed since the production of special crops began in the area one hundred years ago. Their relations with nature have oscillated between respect and desire to preserve a work tool that their ancestors strove to construct and a need to control the advance of a hostile and unruly natural environment. Today, the multiple activities that have recently developed in this restricted area are in conflict over how the land should be used. However, one of the main measures of the third Rhone correction project will be to widen the river's course. The proposed works are thus the opportunity for a general reflection on the future use of the area. The new fonctions attributed to agriculture do not correspond at all to the vision that most farmers have of their job. But finding compromises and working on the synergies between agriculture and other activities represents a major challenge, given that each activity depends so much on the others to ensure its long-term existence and at the same time the dynamism and health of the region.