French rural development policy: its relevancy in relation to changes and prospects for rural areas in France

Abstract

In order to shed light on the relevancy of French rural policies and to project their adaptation to future changes, this article proposes four different scenarios, clearly contrasted and intentionally exaggerated, developed by the DATAR task force. These scenarios grant a central role to city/countryside relationships and their more or less diversified uses (housing, agro-industrial production, environmental protection, or diversified economic activities in a series of local family-based industries). In France, the orientation and the implementation of the new version of the second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy are particularly focused on agricultural networks and issues. It is likely that this French policy will continue in the near future, but it is not sure that this situation can be sustained on the long-term, if its differences with the plausible development scenarios of rural territories are confirmed.