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.