French farmers, agricultural policy, CAP Common Agricultural Policy, farmer representations, agricultural practices, farmer income, farmer stress, farmer health, agricultural crisis, farmer public image, farming profession, agricultural markets, farmer discontent, farmer malaise, agricultural production, farmer precariousness, farming difficulties, farmer debt, agricultural machinery, public aid, farmer inequalities, farmer workload, administrative tasks, sanitary injunctions, farmer leisure, farmer future, farmer health deterioration, farmer suicide, agricultural social mutual, farming social movements, farmer subjectivities, farmer social logics, liberalization of agricultural markets, globalization of commercial exchanges, farming profession issues, farmer institutions critique, collective representations critique, french agriculture, agricultural funding, food scandals, farmer public life, farmer professional status, farming choice
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Abstract
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Abstract
Analysis of farmers' discourses and representations in France, highlighting their struggles with public image, economic pressures, and institutional relationships.
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[...] Thomas takes care of the farm that his parents managed. He therefore grew up in the agricultural world, knows its codes and has undergone the evolution of this environment. Claire's presence appears as an opening to the outside world, which allows him to have a critical perception of his daily environment." - Jacques and Michel are brothers and run a farm in Isère. They were breeders before stopping because the living conditions seemed too 'constraining'. Today, they are cereal farmers and are heavily indebted. [...]
[...] The social contexts of the interviews The three interviews that we will analyze took place in the first half of 2019 with professionals in agriculture. The interview locations varied, sometimes at home, sometimes in neutral locations. A guide for the interview had been prepared for the implementation of semi-directive interviews. It was a matter of going back to the individual history of the respondents, in their links with the agricultural environment. This history was doubled by a conversation on how they defined their agricultural activities and how they accommodated the social image of their profession. [...]
[...] This is part of the way farmers solidarize their social, economic, but also symbolic struggles. ii) A real agricultural solidarity The respondents seem to adopt a sometimes reserved attitude towards traditional actors such as trade unions. Thus, as Michel notes: I know that we can find help from the unions, they are sensitive to the issues, in the family, the MSA offers discussion groups8. In the same way, Françoise's militancy responds to a real active solidarity that inscribes itself in a habitus specific: that of both personal values and those of the corporatist relations of a profession. [...]
[...] The precariousness of farmers therefore combines objective and subjective conditions. The denunciation of agri-bashing - a term that is far from being unanimous either in the agricultural world or in the academic world - is the subject of multiple discussions. We were able to see how the farmers' malaise is embodied in the responsibility of institutional structures (banks, unions, mutuals) judged negatively by the respondents. In the same way, we note suspicions, even fears, regarding the idea that farming activity evokes with the general public. [...]
[...] More generally, this criticism is doubled by those of the collective representations that we will now address. B. A critique of collective representations As we have pointed out, farmers surveyed think they have a social image among consumers and the French. Thus, during the interview, Jacques addressed us saying:I don't want you to think that we're savages10 ». This fear, which is popular in farming circles, is an interpretation based on the media treatment of farmers in the media. Audio-visual programmes portray farmers as actors in food crises, or even health crises, but also as isolated individuals, often backward-looking. [...]
