Agriculture familiale

The notion of family farming refers to a form of social organization of agricultural production activity based on production units corresponding to family groups providing their own labor force while controlling productive capital. Family farming covers a heterogeneous reality, ranging from agriculture geared towards international markets to peasant farming, and represents 80% of world food production according to the FAO. The emergence of this notion, both in the political arena and in the social sciences, is consubstantial with the idea of its disappearance through the extension of the capitalist mode of production to this economic sector. The persistence and resilience of family farming have given this notion a long and lasting legacy, and contributed to its appropriation by public authorities on an international scale as a model for agricultural development.