agreste

Agreste cahiers n° 36 - décembre 1998

Long active in French agricultural production, the trend towards specialization and concentration is confirmed.

Long active in French agricultural production, the trend towards specialization and concentration is confirmed. The land of holdings which disappeared between 1995 and 1997 have remained in agriculture. Thus, although the number of producers has declined for a given crop or animal species, the cultivated acreage or the size of the average flock per farm is up. With the 1992 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the change in European regulations has influenced the choice of farmers as regards crop rotation. For instance, since the « set-aside « rate has been reduced in 1997, the subsidized fallow land which had experienced a spectacular progression in the last few years, decreased by half between 1995 and 1997, and the land has been returned to cereals.