La biomasse, activité alternative au développement des zones rurales

3- The rural world

The number of agricultural employment continues to decrease. The family unit remains the basic structure of the exploitation. However, of new forms of employment (activities of diversification) and of new types of organizations (part-time exercise) are born.

a) Changes

Employment in the agricultural production is more important in the South of Europe. It decrease overall, although at less intervals since the reform of the Common agricultural policy (CAP) undertaken in 1992. Employment in the agroalimentary sector, on the other hand, is maintained. The relative share of each one of these sectors in total employment is reduced. In the rural zones, the role of agriculture as provider of employment tends to decrease even if its role as for the safeguarding of the rural landscapes remains essential. As a whole, the relative share of agricultural employment compared to total employment is higher than the share of the gross value added

c est quoi

agricultural in the GDP This can be interpreted as a need for structural adjustment but reflects also the importance of family work and partial time in agriculture. The reduction in the number of exploitations and the increase in their size do not go hand in hand systematically with an increase in paid labor.

In 1997, approximately 7,4 million people worked in the agricultural sector (agriculture, drives out, sylviculture and fishing) including 7,2 million in agriculture itself (by excluding fishing). In 1997, the share of employment concerned with agriculture rises on average, in the EU, to 5%. She is higher than 10% in the three countries covered in integrality by objective 1 of EAGGF: Greece, Portugal and Ireland (Appendix 10).

The distribution of agricultural employment on the European territory must moreover, being put in prospect with the type of productions. Thus, where the Mediterranean productions, more demanding in labor, dominate (Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal), the rate of average employment is 9%. The field crops and the breeding, more present in the countries of Northern Europe, have less needs (average rate of use of 3% for Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom) (Appendix 11).

The number of employment in the agricultural sector falls continuously. It is a heavy and irreversible tendency, related to the total economic development and which is observed in the whole of the technologically advanced countries. The increases observed in 1986 and 1995 are related to the accession of Spain and Portugal, on the one hand, of Austria, of Finland and Sweden, on the other hand. This reduction affects all the Member States but more particularly the principal countries agricultural providers of employment (Italy, Spain, Portugal, France). These four countries lost each one between 1987 and 1997, more than one third of their uses in agriculture (against an average Community loss of a quarter). Denmark also seems strongly to be touched, but this loss rather appears to be artificial and due to the development of parallel structures whose employment is classified out of the agricultural sector. Belgium loses on the other hand over the decade, only 5% of its agricultural employment (Appendix 12).

The year 1992 marks a point of inflection in this evolution. Following the reform of the CAP, the rate/rhythm of disappearance of the exploitations appreciably slowed down. From - 5,2% in 1991, it passed gradually to - 1,6% in 1998; on a Community scale.

Differences appear between the North and the South of the EU in the distribution of the population pyramid of the managers. The share of old owners is generally higher in the Mediterranean countries: practically an owner on 2 A more than 55 years compared with only 1% of the German owners. Only 4% of the Portuguese owners and 6% of the Italian owners are old less than 35 years (for 1 out of 10 on average Community).

Family labor is dominating in agriculture. In 1995, four employment out of five is family labor. The number of paid nonfamily is highest in the United Kingdom and Denmark. The farm remains a business of family everywhere else. For example, in Finland, the share of family agricultural labor exceeds 97%.

The reduction of the number of exploitations and the increase in their size inevitably did not lead to an increase proportional in paid labor. The impacts are different according to Member States'. Certain countries, such Denmark and Greece, see their number of paid agricultural employment strongly increasing. It is still true but to a lesser extent for Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. These evolutions are related to increases in competitiveness and productivity.

Other countries record a simultaneous reduction in the number of exploitations and paid labor: Germany, Portugal, Italy, and in a less marked way, Ireland and France (Appendix 13).

For the whole of the countries of the EU, the disappearance of the exploitations involves, as in any other economic sector, the setting with the unemployment of paid labor. It is not the only effect induced by these disappearances since family labor concerned generally comes to enlarge the rows of unemployment.

The female use in agriculture represents a third of the total of employment in the European Union. It is very present at Portugal and in Austria (respectively 52% and 49%).

The level of study of the farmers tends to progress. More than one farmer out of ten carried out higher studies in Germany, in the United Kingdom and in Ireland (respectively 17%, 11% and 10%) for a Community average of 6%. Within the framework of its work on the agri-environmental indicators, OECD retained the level of study as an asserting indicator that «it is generally agreed that the higher the level of studies is, the more the environmental aspects become a concern of the farmers»^26(*).

Between 1975 and 1995, the agricultural production concentrated, average surface increased and the exploitations specialized, by supporting monoculture. The vegetable production intensified, by having more recourse to the inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides) and in substituent the capital with work (machines, irrigation, improvements of land). This agriculture of point, more intensive, had a total impact on the environment during 15 last years.

In term of occupation of grounds and of landscape, farmers European manage and maintain 44% space European by the means of Surface Agricultural Useful (SAU), and if one takes into account other spaces which they hold in property and/or hiring and that they exploit, they manage more half of the European territory.

Agricultural surface A decreases in a significant way over the two last decades. Certain zones of the European Union abandoned or were marginalized either because difficult of accesses or not very favourable with the agricultural activities continuation, in particular, with the fall of the farm prices (tendency economic heavy related to the transfers of profits of productivity), or under the pressure of the urbanization and tourism, or like result of the process of general development economic which appears in particular through the rural migration.

* ²⁶ document Internet, www.ocde.org//agr/ministerial/min981f.pdf, consulted the 15.04.01