Agriculture. Plant production, livestock farming... How has the agricultural landscape evolved since 1980?

In nearly 50 years, agriculture has transformed in France. On Thursday, INSEE published its Agricultural Accounts since 1980, which provides an overview of the economic performance of the agricultural sector across the country. "Since 1980, agricultural production has been driven by crop production and agricultural services, much more than by animal production," the document summarizes.

In detail, overall crop production increased by 36% in volume and its price climbed by 59% between the period 1980-1984 and 2020-2024. For production volumes, this is mainly due to large-scale crops. In the fields, cereals declined in favor of oilseeds (rapeseed, sunflower, etc.). Cultivated areas thus increased from 505 thousand hectares in the early 1980s to 2.194 million in 2020-2024, while production volumes more than tripled. For example, farmers harvested an average of 3.9 million tonnes of rapeseed in 2020-2024, compared to 1.1 million tonnes in 1980-1984. But while cereal areas have declined by 7.5% in 40 years, harvested volumes have increased by 40.9% thanks to better yields.

Plant prices, meanwhile, are primarily driven up by wine, which has almost tripled in price in 40 years with the rise in wine production, while vines have declined by 35.4% over the same period. Finally, fruit prices have more than doubled between the early 1980s and the early 2020s, while harvested volumes remain roughly the same.

In livestock farming, there was a 2.8% decline in the volume of animal production between 1980-1984 and 2020-2024, with significant disparities between animals. Cattle farming declined sharply. The herd, which stood at 23.4 million in 1980-1984, fell to 17 million in 2020-2024. Calf production fell by 52.2%. The number of dairy cows fell from 7.1 million to 3.3 million during the same period, "but animal selection, dairy specialization, and improved feed quality have led to a sharp increase in yields," the study states. Sheep and goat production, meanwhile, fell by half.

For other livestock sectors, production is on the rise. Poultry production increased from 1.1 million tonnes of carcass equivalent (cte) in 1980 to 1.7 million in 2021. Egg production increased by 17.8%. Pig production increased from 1.7 million cte in 1980 to 2.1 million in 2023.

But in a context of supply tensions and growing global demand, all prices are on the rise and have increased on average by nearly 70% since 1980-1984. This includes +109% for eggs, +87% for cattle, +85.8% for milk, +40% for poultry and +16% for pigs.