Agricultural History Review, Volume 56 Part 2 (2008), p. 251

Les agrariens français de Méline à Pisani appeared in 1968. In it, Pierre Barral explored French rural society from the agricultural protectionism of the late nineteenth century, through the demographic disaster of World War I and the economic collapse following 1929, to the structural reforms of the early 1960s that sought to modernize family farming by encouraging the elderly to retire, the young to acquire agricultural skills, and farms to be enlarged. Barral discussed these developments in national terms but, in 1969, he edited an issue of Le Mouvement Social that examined regional aspects of French agrarian life before 1930. Thirty years later, members of the Association des ruralistes français met in Lyons for their 23rd colloquium, which focused on ‘Agrariens et agrarismes, hier et aujourd’hui, en France et en Europe’. Thirty-one papers were delivered and twenty five of these are included, in revised form, in the long-delayed volume under review. Editors Cornu and Mayaud begin by explaining how Barral’s ideas have been refined by recent research in France and other European countries.

The first cluster of papers examines agrarian life and nation building, with evidence from Germany and Spain being set alongside discussions of rural policies in France. Protracted debates considered whether a single syllabus for primary education was appropriate, or whether French rural children should experience a modified programme incorporating rural skills. Despite suffering more than any other class on the killing fields of World War I, the French peasantry remained the bedrock of the nation during the 1920s, when half the population still lived in the countryside. The second group of papers concentrates on rural development in Britain, Germany and France. Isabel Boussard highlights the activities of successive ministers of agriculture during the Vichy era who strove to keep farmers on the land, return abandoned farms to cultivation, promote plot consolidation, and improve rural housing. A complementary paper by Wolfram Pyta traces German rural policy during the Nazi period. Rural planners, headed by Konrad Meyer, travelled widely through the German lands to identify farms to be conserved and improved, and others that were too small to be viable and should be merged with adjacent holdings.

Social and political issues figure largely in the third cluster of essays, which explores the specificities of landholding and peasant unions in the Landes and Provence. These French discussions are complemented by papers on the peasants’ political party in Poland and on the evolution of rural communism in the USSR and in parts of western Europe. Rural depopulation and representations of rural life form the heart of the fourth section, with essays reviewing how the exode rural was debated in the French parliament. In the 1960s, depopulation was viewed as a necessary part of agricultural modernization, but it is now perceived as a social problem at the core of service deprivation that afflicts the poor and elderly in the countryside. The last throes of traditional rural life in France were captured by documentary film-maker Georges Rougnier and by journalists writing for magazines whose focus gradually shifted from the virtues of the family holding to the environmental advantages of organic farming.

The final group of essays highlights aspects of ‘productivist’ farming, environmental damage, and nature conservation. New agrarian associations, such as the Confédération Paysanne and Coordination Rurale, have emerged seeking to defend small farmers and their ecologically sensitive brand of food production in the face of mechanized farming on ever-larger units. Intensive application of chemicals and the removal of long-established landscape features in the name of agricultural progress have caused serious ecological damage in many regions. The European Union and other institutions have defined areas for nature conservation and have tried to impose new approaches to resource management. Such policy innovations have been challenged by many farmers who insist that food production remains their prime function, despite their political masters insisting they should re-invent themselves as landscape managers and guardians of nature embracing biodiversity and sustainable development.

The book concludes with Barral’s own appraisal of the social and environmental challenges that now face members of the much diminished and increasingly diversified ‘farming class.’ He insists that productivist farming caused ‘a fissure [to develop] in the traditional relationship between farming and nature’ (p.458). Reconciling exploitation with conservation, and recognizing that members of urban society expect more from the countryside than the production of food, are just some of the challenges facing rural Europe in the twenty-first century. This interesting and long awaited collection of essays has neither tables nor illustrations. Information on the disciplinary background and affiliation of the authors would have been a welcome addition.