Innovation in agriculture

French agriculture has been undergoing radical change since the mid 20th century. To adapt, it has relied upon different types of innovation: organisational and social ( emergence of collective structures: unions, cooperatives, etc.), legal (setup of land development and rural establishment companies/ SAFER, agricultural groups for joint holdings/GAEC, etc.), regional (regional specialisation of production and sectors) and technical of course, achieved through research: mechanisation, genetic selection and synthetic inputs for example. These have made it possible to meet the targets set by the public authorities, aimed at providing the population with sufficient food supplies at affordable prices. These developments have had negative consequences, however, in terms of jobs, rural exodus and depopulation and, over the longer term, on the natural environment (biodiversity, water quality and landscapes for example). Mass production has also led to an industrialisation of food which has become standardised and often nutritionally inferior.