Agriculture in France
by French agriculture is by far the most important in Europe. A radical policy of modernization was implemented from the 1950s, later associated with Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The strategy has been successful, but its consequences include a series of social problems such as regional desertification, the aging of farming communities and the disappearance of debt-ridden small farms, together with a deterioration of the rural environment. Recent reforms of the CAP and the gradual opening of agricultural markets to international competition signal the ultimate failure of the ‘modern family farm’ model which was at the root of the policy consensus since the 1950s.
These trends have accelerated further with changes in the CAP since the early 1980s. Despite numerous protests, from specialized fruit growers to cattle owners (particularly affected in 1996 by bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or “Mad Cow Disease”), the highly protective system is being dismantled. The resistance of farmers has a long history-for instance the Révolte des Vignerons (Winemakers’ Revolt) in the south of France in 1907, quelled by the army, is still in farmers’ memories, and their descendants violently clashed with police forces again in 1975-6 against the EC market regulations. Protests against imports of Spanish fruit or British lamb have been part of life for decades, as smaller farmers, often heavily in debt, find themselves unable to survive-their feeling of betrayal towards agricultural policy’s failure to maintain the family farm model of the 1950s explains brutal flare-ups which are sometimes difficult to understand from abroad.
Liked it
-
-
Post Commentkim
On September 23, 2008 at 11:55 am
i dont get this at all , im trying to find out about agriculture but this crap dont tell me anything
balisunset
On September 25, 2008 at 3:37 am
this is a business related article…
so you need to find elsewhere