The Research Unit SMART was officially created on January 2017, first with the name 'SMART-LERECO', in the continuity of a scientific project that brought together, throughout the period 2011-2016, economists from the Unit SMART of Rennes and the Unit LERECO of Nantes. Starting on January 1st, 2022, 'SMART-LERECO' changes its name to 'SMART', a short name being obviously more convenient, and acknowledging that the contracted name 'SMART' was much more widely used by our colleagues and ourselves than its full counterpart 'SMART-LERECO'. It is also a question of saluting the successful integration of the work of the members of the UMR - whether they are from the Rennes, Nantes or Angers sites - around questions relating to Agricultural Structures and Markets, Resources and Territories. This Research Unit brings together some 60 people (including about 30 researchers and teachers-researchers) from INRAE's Ecosocio department (at the Rennes and Nantes sites) and Agrocampus-Ouest (Sites of Rennes and Angers).

The shared ambition of our collective is to create a research and teaching group in economy of agriculture, agri-food and environment, recognized internationally for the quality of its work not only academic but also in expertise. Our scientific project aims to give priority to four themes: the behavior of agricultural producers and public regulations; Markets, agriculture and development; Industrial strategies of agri-food enterprises in a globalized economy; Organization and performance of agricultural and food chains.