Among farmers, anger has been brewing for a week. Faced with an increasingly marked movement, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Friday January 26 that he was backtracking on certain criticized measures, such as the increase in the tax on non-road diesel (GNR). But the government will have to be more imaginative to prevent the slow decline of the profession and restore the attractiveness of a profession that no longer appeals to young people. Explanations with Cécile Gazo, doctor in sociology and specialist in agricultural installations.

Nearly 170,000

farmers

are expected to retire by 2030, according to the Ministry of Agriculture. Is there an issue in strengthening the installation of new farmers

?

There is indeed a demographic challenge that will arise and which is already glaring. Today we have a number of farmers leaving much higher than the number of installations. Agricultural production already represents only 1.5% of the active population. If nothing is done, there is a risk of seeing the French model of family farming disappear, or even moving away from the objectives of food sovereignty. Historically, the French agricultural model is based on the figure of the farm manager. Today, it is striking to note that the number of employees on farms is increasing, unlike the number of farm managers, which is constantly decreasing. The challenge is therefore to find a strategic vision for agriculture: who to support, on what models, and what operating structures for what production?

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What are the main obstacles to the resumption of agricultural operations?

We must distinguish between cases of takeover of a family business and creations-takeovers outside the family framework, because the obstacles are different. In the first case, there is strong social and professional mobility among farmers' children. Result: the children do other jobs and the parents find themselves without successors, when the parents themselves do not discourage their children from taking over the family business. When the children are ready, they still have to buy shares from the brothers and sisters. In the 1950s, the farm generally went to one of the children and the others could sit on the inheritance. Today, the family no longer necessarily gives gifts to those who take over the farm and it is necessary to find family arrangements that are often costly. Concerning the installations of farmers outside the family framework, it is also the cost of buying the farm which poses a problem, since the heritage value is often uncorrelated with the economic value. Ultimately, we mobilize a lot of money for little financial return.

Read alsoFive figures to understand the discomfort of farmers

Do agricultural high school courses still attract many young people

?

In initial training courses, we find a large number of sectors of activity linked to agricultural and rural activities, but that of production remains the one which has the most difficulty in recruiting, compared to services. In continuing education, which also attracts many potential future farmers, there can be a fairly strong gap between the content of the training, which was historically adapted to the children of farmers, and the needs of the current diversity of profiles. Indeed, those who are considering a professional retraining towards agriculture, often already qualified, have more of a deficit in terms of practice than in general culture. The challenge is therefore to respond to this new diversity of profiles.

Also read: Downgrading, debt, European standards… the reasons for the anger of French farmers

Is there a gap between the aspirations of people undergoing professional retraining and those of farmers' children

?

What is very present in the imagination of people not from an agricultural background is this idea that they will contribute to changing the agricultural model through a more collective organization of work on the farm and by capturing added value a priority. The development of a direct sales network through the use of marketing is generally favored for long circuits, which include numerous intermediaries. Today we are witnessing a rupture between the proponents of an agricultural model which can be judged as "in decline" and this fringe of people who want to invent new agricultural models with sometimes a somewhat idealized vision of the profession. It is therefore important to bring these two worlds into dialogue to avoid worsening the divide between supply and demand at the time of transmissions.

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