Diversifying strategies of agricultural cooperatives towards agro-ecological transition

French public authorities increased pressure on farmers to reduce their use of fertilizer and pesticide, which are considered as the main factors of water quality degradation. The co-operative sector collects agricultural products, and provides inputs to farmers. Those firms that constitute the dominant regime in France are thus directly concerned with this ecologisation of cropping systems. We analyzed the diversity of action plans on water quality conducted by two types of actors: cooperative groups (trade and supply union of farming cooperatives) and local farming cooperatives. We characterized their strategies of management of volumes and quality of the products as well as the innovations for water quality management. As a second step, we analyzed in detail the case of a cooperative involved in the creation of a new supply chain with an environmental strong potential in a vulnerable watershed. Surveys show that due to changes in the global landscape, cooperatives have invested heavily in service activities and technical advice on greening of agricultural practices. At the national level, this approach that relied on the expertise, tools, and extensive territorial presence of cooperatives, helps build databases of agricultural practices, and also perform environmental assessment and propose action plans on areas where water quality is threatened by pesticides and nitrogen. The implementation of these services is underpinned by the maintenance of the current level of agricultural products collected (dominant regime). Regarding water protection, very little is done regarding the use of breakthrough innovations such as crop diversification or changes in chemical input supply. At the local level there is a variety of cooperative behaviors partly related to their economic size. Large cooperatives rely on advice based on the agronomic tools developed at the national level to improve the efficiency of inputs used in vulnerable areas. Smaller structures can initiate or participate in real territoire projects often supported by local communities. They seek new forms of supply chains and aim a territorial management of cropping systems in catchment areas. These projects can be qualified as territorial innovations that are not yet well stabilized. The local case we analyzed gives us the opportunity to assess the main obstacles encountered by such innovative projects (in term of agronomy of practices and local supply chain management).