The number of farms on mainland France continues to decline sharply. Between 2010 and 2020, approximately 100,000 farms disappeared. There are now about 389,000 farms, compared to 490,000 ten years ago. This decrease in French agriculture has been continuous since the 1970s. This is according to new data from the French Ministry of Agriculture.
The research is the result of 210,000 questionnaires sent out and 100,000 direct meetings with French farmers, explained Minister Julien Denormandie during a press conference. The final figures are expected in April 2022.
The decline over the past ten years is slightly less than that of the previous decade: 2.3% per year compared to 3.0% per year between 2000 and 2010. The number of livestock farms has decreased by 31% since 2010 (−64,000). The decline is even stronger among farms combining multiple types of livestock. This is the case for livestock farms producing both milk and meat (−41%) and farms that combine crops and livestock (also 41%).
Due to the size of the total French usable agricultural area (26.7 million hectares; 1% less than in 2010) and the decrease in the number of farms, the usable agricultural area per farm is increasing, with an average size of 69 hectares. This is three times smaller than the average size of farms in the United States and roughly equal to that in Germany.
The expansion of area mainly takes place in crop production. The average area of dairy farms has increased over the past decade from 78 to 106 hectares, and that of meat livestock farms from 65 to 85 hectares.
The figures from the ten-year agricultural census also reveal the extent of the generational renewal challenge facing French agriculture. Today, 58% of French agricultural managers and workers are 50 years or older. Four out of ten are over sixty.
While the number of people with permanent jobs on farms has declined by 12% over 10 years (from 759,000 to 583,000 permanent full-time jobs), the share of temporary workers is increasing.