Farmers have not stopped adapting throughout history. While profound changes are taking shape with new and diverse forms of organization of work and capital, new skills are also required. Let's hope that farmers will once again rise to these challenges! François Purseigle, Professor of Sociology and co-author of "Une agriculture sans agriculteurs" (An agriculture without farmers), sheds light on this issue.
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Whatwill farms look like in the near future?
Tomorrow, new and atypical forms will emerge, even if some of them draw on what may appear to be classic schemes. One of the challenges lies in the ability of sectors (field crops, livestock, etc.) and professional organizations (cooperatives, trade, etc.) to support these atypical formats, since they were conceived at a time in history when these models did not exist. The question is to know how to mobilize the players, from upstream to downstream, to support them. It seems to me that we need to take up two major challenges: firstly, internal to the farm, with the issues of handing down the business, managing the workforce, and setting up a business, with which all farmers are familiar. Then there are the external challenges posed by public policy, Brussels, the markets, processors and supermarkets. We also have to take into account a context full of uncertainties, with economic and ecological hazards, and shorter decision-making horizons, as farming projects are less and less conceived on a lifelong scale, due to the social and professional mobility required. Farmers are entering the profession later and leaving earlier. Farming is now part of a more global life project, with successive chosen experiences, and entry into farming is often seen as a step in a career. The very word "installation" is being shaken up by new forms of social and professional mobility, from which farming is no longer exempt. What's more, passing on a farm is not always an ambition for farm managers, who see their professional projects as a moment to which they do not assign their children.
In your book, you say that the world of agriculture has entered a "process of trivialization similar to that of other economic sectors". Could you be more specific?
Farm businesses are going to have to change their objectives and take into account a new organization of work. Faced with the challenge of asset renewal, we're going to be thinking in terms of optimizing the resources at our disposal, trying to create more value and redistribute it throughout the farm business. For example, a dairy farm may evolve, which will require the creation of a different type of legal engineering, so as to be able to do business on the farm, and at the same time offer photovoltaics, for example. We're going to look for value where it's found, not simply through the diversification already well known in the agricultural world, but rather by multi-specializing so as to be good just about everywhere. I'd even go so far as to say that the agricultural enterprise will be based on a word that's more akin to industrial economics, that of "business unit". They will be different, with, for example, a beer business on the farm, seeds on the farm, etc.... Naturally, meeting these challenges will require new strategies and new professions. "We won't be able to rely on mom and dad... or our neighbors, because sometimes there aren't any left!
What organizational strategies have you identified?
We will undoubtedly have leaders with varying degrees of ability to break away from the classic trajectory of the conjugal and family farm. There are several possible strategies: the collaborative and partnership model, with the establishment of alliances and collectives between peers or with other stakeholders in the region. And shared governance. This will be made possible by mobilizing resources in a more networked way. This will make it possible to carry out multi-specialization projects, sometimes at the crossroads of several business sectors, by drawing on existing internal resources, but also by outsourcing certain activities. Alongside this logic of association, we are going to see a strategy of integration or insertion of new trades and new functions within the farm business, with employees who will sometimes be managers, and therefore, a vertical, more hierarchical governance. Farmers will then have to operate as farm clusters, perhaps supported by a commercial company or holding company. This will require new skills, as settling a conflict with one's parents at the dinner table is very different from managing a conflict with employees or workers. Finally, the3rd strategy is delegated governance of tasks that were previously assumed, either because we no longer have the capacity to take them on, or because we no longer wish to do so. This is particularly true of the new generations. Better trained, they no longer want to have both feet in the same shoe, to limit themselves to a single role, and are looking for a better balance in their lives. Outsourcing certain activities is becoming increasingly strategic. Life projects are more complex today! I would add that these 3 strategies are not mutually exclusive. They can all be mobilized, depending on the company's direction, with, for example, recourse to other farmers for your milk business unit, recruitment of employees to run another workshop, and delegation for cereal growing.
What about new skills?
Today, the question is no longer one of status (farm manager) but rather one of skills. Tomorrow's agricultural producer will be one who is able to: seek out and mobilize knowledge and resources in a specific field; master methods and tools in the service of a new rationalization; work as part of a team; understand the rules of the law in order to diversify successfully. As you can see, technical skills alone are no longer enough. They also need to better distinguish between private and professional spheres, take into account societal issues and communicate more effectively.
