The Comb Lab letter : Review of 2025

The end of the year is usually a time for taking stock. Among the actions that marked Comb Lab’s 2025 programme of activities, we should mention those most notable:

• We participated in the Combrailles Food Forum and the Festival des Possibles. Our presence at these two events enabled us to maintain relations with local elected officials and representatives of institutional bodies. However, these events did not generate any new contacts. This raises a tactical question: should we continue to use this method to demonstrate Comb Lab’s presence in the region, or would we benefit from replacing these events with other activities?

• One point deserves attention. The food festival was judiciously preceded by six preview events, including four farm visits. These were excellent opportunities to learn more about the diversity of livestock farming and the related skills involved.

• As our letters echoed, Comb Lab played its part in continuing to build the Puy-de-Dôme SSA63 food security network. We are already heavily involved in preparing for the next decentralised SSA63 assembly, which will be held in February 2026 in Pontaumur. We hope to see the emergence of micro-local food solidarity initiatives.

• Throughout the year, we actively participated in the social needs analysis workshop (Atelier d’analyse des besoins sociaux) deployed across the Pays de Saint-Éloy les Mines Communauté de communes. The development of a needs assessment and mapping of existing services enabled us to draw up proposals for targeted actions that the next term of office will be able to take up.

Alongside this workshop, putting its words into action, Comb Lab took part in the solidarity potato (la patate solidaire) initiative. Specifically, Comcom delivered seed potatoes to us, and the entire harvest – almost 100 kg produced at Comb Lab’s headquarters – was delivered to the Secours Populaire charity in Saint-Éloy.

• Let us mention our modest contribution, alongside our partner, the Clermont Auvergne Social Innovation Centre (CISCA), to the organisation of the wood industry day on 25 October. This was an opportunity to reflect on the economic challenges facing this sector in the region, which is caught between the concentration of sawmilling companies, leading to the disappearance of small sawmills, and the effects of climate change on forestry.

• During the revision of the territorial coherence plan covering all three communities of communes in the Combrailles region, led by the Syndicat mixte d’aménagement et de développement des Combrailles (SMADC), Comb Lab produced a forward-looking discussion paper over the summer. This 20-page document has not yet elicited any feedback from the recipients, but we will continue this groundwork in 2026.

• At the end of this year, we will complete the participatory action research we are conducting with CISCA in the region. As part of this, we are rolling out a programme of serious games with local residents and stakeholders. Serious games are board games with no points, no winners and no losers. Only the cooperation of the players around the game board makes it possible to broaden a particular field of knowledge, compare representations and build compromises on important issues, leading to local and concrete actions. The French National Research Institute for Agronomy, Food and the Environment (INRAE) is conducting research to determine whether serious games trigger behavioural changes. Comb Lab, in association with CISCA, is fortunate to be one of the « field agents » for this INRAE research, which enriches our own research on the Combrailles region.

• This end-of-year review reveals that a larger proportion of our actions than we had anticipated are linked to the local election cycle. Given the uncertainties surrounding the composition of the next local executive bodies, we are considering how to proceed with Comb Lab’s actions.

• Finally, let us take a first step towards 2026: from January onwards, our newsletter will change from a monthly to a quarterly publication. This change is part of a broader review of our communication strategy. We will have the opportunity to return to this subject in due course.

This assessment shows that food security is a key issue in our agenda. We believe that the Combrailles, like many other regions, may struggle to maintain food security for its inhabitants in the coming years. Continued impoverishment, agricultural specialisation and the effects of climate change are casting a shadow over this sector. Fortunately, many civil society actors are working effectively, albeit quietly, to mitigate the risks involved.

Comb Lab wishes to expand its activities in the Combrailles region. This expansion requires more skills. If our work matches your aspirations and you would like to get involved, we would be delighted to welcome you to Comb Lab.

To be contacted, click here.

Despite the turmoil in the world, Comb Lab wishes everyone as peaceful and pleasant an end to the year as possible.