Le conseil en agriculture : un investissement immatériel entre développement sectoriel et développement territorial

Abstract

Agriculture is subject to political measures that follow, on the one hand, a sector-based development rationale, and on the other hand, a territorial development rationale. The confrontation of both rationales generates new requirements concerning intangible investments in agriculture: (i) there is a growing demand for advice as well as for new knowledge, which would make it possible to accommodate various regulatory instructions that are not necessarily compatible. In addition to this, (ii) public and semi-public technical support organisms should address a broader public. But analyses of ongoing reorganisations in five selected EU countries reveal that sector-based frameworks are insufficiently adapted to these requirements of territorial development. This ill-adaptation is nowhere compensated by emerging local institutions which would enable people having a farming activity to benefit from the new type of intangible investments they need.