Economic and Environmental Performance of Small French Farms

The small farm sector in France has been rapidly changing in the last decade. Case studies and statistical work indicate that a fringe of small farms are developing a business model radically different from conventional agriculture, based on more sustainable production systems and mobilizing innovative ways to create value added at farm level. Can this type of farm foreshadow a new model of agriculture, both economically viable and environmentally sustainable? Should it be better supported by agricultural policies? To respond to these questions, this article compares the economic and environmental performance of small French farms relatively to the performance of medium and large farms. Our analysis is based on 2018 data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and we use the small farm definition provided by the French farm union "Confederation Paysanne", which defends small-scale peasantry agriculture. Our results show that 55% of small farms display greater environmental performance than the median environmental performance of the overall farm sector. Our central finding is that 13 % of small farms are both more environmentally and economically performant, in comparison to all farms. These environmentally and economically farms are run by younger farmers, mostly women. They are mostly organic and generate sufficient income per worker to ensure their short-term economic viability. However, subsidies from the Common agricultural policy (CAP) remain indispensable. A rebalancing of the allocation of CAP support, according to the number of workers, could help to ensure their long-term viability and would contribute to a performant small-holding innovative model of agriculture.