Ministère de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation
One-third of vineyards are covered in grass throughout the year, a technique which is applied in the various regions unequally, and which often results in better quality wines.
They have a long tradition in wine-making, dairying, or wholesaling, with long implantations in certain regions. Cooperatives are now striving for renewal.
Building private houses consumes 400,000 hectares of undeveloped land between 1992 and 2004, nearly 1% of the territory. This land had been farmland essentially.
Average farm income declines by 15% in 2008. Production costs weigh on all types of farms. The fall in cereal prices affects income in field cropping.
Acreage devoted to annual crops and to prairies has stabilised over the last ten years. Farmers alternate between cropland and prairies less frequently. There continue to be large regional disparities.
Farming techniques aimed at reducing nitrate pollution are difficult to impose on grain maize fields. However such techniques are more common in zones that are vulnerable to water pollution.
The number of professional farms continues to decrease, by 3 % per year from 2005 to 2007. However their agricultural potential is stable, with 25.2 million hectares farmed. There are now 770,000 permanent workers.
Deprived of exports for several months French grass-fed calves had difficulty finding buyers. Selling prices were low.
In 2007, turnover in agri-business firms with 20 or more employees grows by 7.2% and their exports grow by 10%. Investment increases significantly. Current income improves, but employment struggles to remain constant.
Average farm income increases by 17% in 2007. Rising cereal and oilseed prices favor the revenues of producers of field crops, but weigh on livestock breeders. Wine-growers’ revenues recover.
Ministère de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation