Introduction, Special Issue “Multi-risk management in the agricultural sector”

The systemic dimension of contemporary hazards challenges the management and theorisation of risk, which were designed for a single category of hazard (natural, financial, etc.). A trend in social science literature now perceives the concept of risk as outdated. The concept of resilience has also been criticised for giving the illusion of the perfect control of hazards, although observations of current events such as climate-related catastrophes seriously contradict this possibility. The concept of risk based on probabilistic forecasting still provides important tools for managing hazards, whether exceptional or more ordinary. What are the new boundaries of the concept of risk? How can we take its systemic dimension into account? This special issue aims to grasp these empirical developments by exploring the notion of multi-risks, defined as a set of various risks and their combined effects. This notion of multi-risk seems particularly appropriate to address recent trends in the agricultural sector