Mode de vie du Roumois : l'agriculture à temps partiel bénéficiaire du développement de l'agglomération rouennaise

Part-time farming, that some people are unaware of and that others think will disappear quickly, is still largely to be found in country districts, but part-time farming studied in the country planning project for the Roumois - an agricultural area close to the industrial districts of Rouen, where the population is increasing rapidly - appears as a way of life with its own inner dynamism. It is not declining as quickly as the number of farm units, and involves several social classes. There are fears of its being impossible to preserve the rural landscape typical of this area - open fields alternating with cultivated fields and meadows surrounded by hedges - and part-time farming is an essential element in the preservation of this environment. It prevents the open spaces between built-up areas being left to grow wild and enables the villages to preserve their indigenous population ; this in turn ensures that newcomers on the new housing estates wilt be.