Perception of farming activity in an area: local expectations and representation of farmers

The aim of this research was to determine how farmers were represented by the economic players in an area, what the local expectations of farming were, how farmers perceived these, and what incentives and disincentives there were to take them into account. The approach was survey-based. The different challenges that farming faces, or is committed to meeting – environmental, economic and social – were enumerated. Following interviews in each sub-area, an expert-based typology was drawn up of farmers’ attitudes towards their activity against society’s demands. These different profiles describe ranging situations and motivations among farmers that need to be taken into account in the advisory and communication provisions required to build the agriculture of the future. The challenge for farming will be to reconcile the evolution of societal demands with farmers’ capacity to respond, without adversely affecting the economic viability of farms.