Agriculture et environnement. L'économie rurale revisitée

Agriculture and environment. rural economy reconsidered - Because they carry enormous political stacks, the environmental impacts of agricultural policies fall within the scope of many research fields, where economics stand on the same foot as other disciplines. In economics, the solution of environmental questions are sought for in markets, in the hope of a synergy with current reappraisal of agricultural policies. Yet, such an approach leaves open a number of recurrent agricultural economic issues such as the mode of appropriation of natural resources and technological innovations, the ration for food self sufficiency, or the equity of public support to farmers. Admittedly, economics include an ethical aspect in its normative dimensions. Whatever its origin, either a wider utilitarism or any other more fundamental approach, the later always implies a certain ethical relativism, difficult to maintain compatible with alternative logic, such as the "citizen ", the "homo oeconomicus", or the moral being rationality....ln such a perspective, agricultural and - more generallyrural economics look like a microcosm. It reflects a large number of present social issues.