Unpacking farmers’ multiple values in grapevine variety choice

Understanding farmers’ values that underpin crop choices is pivotal for designing effective and adequate sustainable agricultural policies. While significant attention has been given to the agronomic, economic and socio-cultural values of smallholder farmers in the Global South, the plural values held by commercial farmers in the Global North—specifically ascribed to perennial crops—remain underexplored. Here, we adopt an emic perspective to investigate farmers’ values involved in past and anticipated choices of grapevine varieties in the Gaillac region (southwestern France). We conducted 35 interviews with farmers, and recorded 962 expressions of values for 50 cultivated grapevine varieties. Using a mixed deductive-inductive approach, we classified these values, and identified groups of farmers and varieties based on shared values using a network analysis. Farmers’ expressions of values were grouped into five domains: wine-growing (21.9%, e.g., yield), wine-making (21.8%, e.g., organoleptic properties), economics (20.7%, e.g., specific market), sense-based (23.7%, e.g., attachment to place), and external factors (11.9%, e.g., varietal regulations). Results suggest that the diversity and variation of values held by different groups of farmers and groups of varieties are key to supporting the high level of crop diversity observed at both farm and vineyard scales. Specifically, the feelings of attachment and sense of belonging to the Gaillac region are effective triggers in the maintenance of local grapevine varieties. Our research emphasizes the diverse place-based values attributed to crops, and highlights the importance of integrating sense-based values in developing biodiversity-based policies.