Group farming in France: Why do some regions have more cooperative ventures than others?

Bina Agarwal,Bruno Dorin

doi:10.1177/0308518x18802311

Abstract

The global debate on food security and the kinds of farming systems that could prove economically and ecologically sustainable has focused overwhelmingly on small family farms versus large commercial farms, with little attention being given to alternative models based on farmer cooperation. France offers a significant but under-researched and internationally little-recognized model of group farming – the GAEC ( Groupement Agricole d’Exploitation en Commun) – based on farmers pooling land, labour and capital. This model is of considerable contemporary interest for both France and other countries. Catalysed by a 1962 law, GAECs accounted for 7.6% of farms and 15% of agricultural adult work units in 2010, but their incidence varied greatly across regions. Using data from the French agricultural census and other sources, this paper identifies the factors – economic, ecological, social and demographic – underlying this regionally uneven development of GAECs (and comparatively of EARLs – Exploitations Agricoles à Responsabilité Limitée – another type of group farm introduced in 1985). Regions with a higher incidence of group farms are found to be those that were historically dominated by middle-sized farms, had a local ecology favouring labour-intensive animal breeding, especially pastures, a higher proportion of agricultural graduates, greater economic equality and social institutions that promote community cohesion, among other factors. These results illuminate not only the conditions favourable to the emergence of group farming in France, but also the conditions under which such farmer cooperation could take root in other (including developing) countries, subject to context-specific modifications of the French model.

Highlights

In recent years, an increasing weight is being placed internationally on small family farms as vehicles for enhancing food security, equity and ecological sustainability (FAO, 2014; HLPE, 2013)
The law incorporated a ‘transparency principle’ (Article L323-13 of the French Rural Code) under which the state, for its agricultural support programmes, would treat each GAEC partner as an individual entity, while recognizing too a GAEC’s collective identity. This principle enabled GAEC partners to benefit from public incentives on the same basis as individual farmers, including when the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union (EU) introduced direct income support ‘decoupled’ from price support in 1992.8 in 2013, the EU officially recognized the transparency principle for GAECs
GAECs were propelled especially by the Jeunesse Agricole Catholique (JAC),10 an association of young Catholic farmers, ‘guided by the conviction that a “third road” was needed between what was regarded as the abuses of capitalism and the excesses of Marxian collectivism’ (Raup, 1975: 3; see Boussard, 1991)

Summary

Introduction

An increasing weight is being placed internationally on small family farms as vehicles for enhancing food security, equity and ecological sustainability (FAO, 2014; HLPE, 2013). A study of group farming, based on such multipurpose cooperation, acquires particular relevance today, given that people in many countries (both developing and developed) are seeking diverse pathways to carve out viable livelihoods within agriculture. This includes existing farmers looking for more lucrative and sustainable farming options, and new job seekers who (as noted) have limited non-farm outlets, as well as those who want to make agriculture a lifestyle choice.. The penultimate section presents our regression results, followed by concluding reflections and policy pointers in the closing section

Background and existing studies

Findings

Concluding reflections and policy pointers