French Non Profit Terre de Liens Goes on a Space Odyssey in PSA for Agricultural Reform

French NGO Terre de Liens is celebrating 20 years of agricultural preservation with an awareness campaign whose release coincides with a national discussion over a new law which will have a major impact on the country’s future of farming and set a precedent for other European countries. 

The project, known as PLOAA (Pacte et une loi d’orientation et d’avenir Agricole), is set to establish an agreement and law on how to meet the challenges of food sovereignty and generational renewal in agriculture and how to help the sector adapt to agro-ecological and climate change. The discussion also focuses on making agriculture more appealing as a career path, training and providing assistance for beginning farmers, and facilitating the succession of farmland to combat industrialisation. This month, a working group organised by the government is set to present its much-anticipated findings on ways to do so. 

Released December 1st, the organisation’s 'Come Back Down to Earth' campaign, created with agency STRIKE, features a 90” animated film that invites audiences to return to Earth and encourages a renewed appreciation for farmers and the resources they provide. 

In France, nearly 200 farms disappear every week and 50,000 hectares of farmland are paved over every year. Worse still, one in three farmers will retire in the next 10 years, with no one to replace them. 

The stakes for the new law are high and critics say the current text falls short of meeting the urgent needs of the agriculture sector, not doing enough to help a new generation of farmers by making agricultural land more accessible for sustainable projects, or to limit the scale and impact of climate change, to stop the decline in biodiversity, or to re-localise food. 

For 20 years, the foundation Terre de Liens has been working to end land speculation and promoting generational renewal. In just two decades the association has rescued more than 300 farms and helped 700 farmers set up, and today is supported by thousands of donors.   

'Come Back Down to Earth' invites us to question our relationship with farmers and agriculture. The conquest of space, the conquest of the metaverse, robotics... today, our planet’s greatest fortunes seem to be more disconnected than ever from social and environmental reality. Industrialisation is gradually replacing farming, just as the virtual is gradually replacing the real, and the artificial is replacing taste. The film denounces this prospective and reminds us that we need to invest in agriculture for a better tomorrow. 

"The vision of progress shared by a handful of billionaires - those who want to send us to live in space or in the metaverse - is not necessarily unanimous. Many elements of pop culture, from Black Mirror to Wall-e to The Matrix, are there to remind us of something simple and essential: technological progress only makes sense if it is put to use for the good of humanity and our planet. That's the message of this film, which shows the common sense in Terre de Liens' approach." said Jérôme Gonfond, president and CCO of STRIKE agency. 

“This campaign aims to bring back to Earth those who believe in the future of our planet, and encourages them to support organic farming on a human scale, to take care of us and our planet.” said Gabriela Morinay-Calmon, co-director of the Terre de Liens Foundation.

'Come Back Down to Earth' also includes direct mail and social media communication, orchestrated by the agency mind.me who managed the media plan for the nationwide campaign.