Les politiques d'intégration de l'agriculture artisanale au mode de production capitaliste

In this article on the mean-term evolution likely for French farming, the writers attempt to put forward some arguments in favour of a point of view mid-way between the two usually held - that of the need to maintain an out- of-date form of farming and that of the development of agricultural capitalism. They advocate, in the general farming-food-industries framework, the development of an original social structure which integrates modern small- scale farming structures and cooperative structures in the food industries sector where capitalist production methods are dominant. They attempt to show that this original solution can be lasting and is desired by the dominant forces in the economy as a whole, for it fulfills basic needs. They devefop this theme and, first of all, examine the way this integration is achieved spontaneously by capitalist integration and the cooperative movement. They then try to show that, from this point of view, state policy appears to be sufficiently coherent to foster a form of integration and a social development specific to the farming-food-industries sector.