L'agriculture "hors" du rural ?

Agriculture has long been confused with the rural world. Farmers still estimate holders of the rural legitimacy. This legitimacy is no longer obvious. One hundred years ago, agriculture occupied and fed essentially rurals. Space, rural and agricultural activities intermingled : farmers, workers, artisans and land owners were interdependent actors of a society with various landscapes, real and symbolic. Modem agriculture has made burst this society. The farmer became an entrepreneur producing for larger markets. As producer, he abandoned maintenance activities of rural territories. Farmers are becoming a minority in the rural population. The present rurals (workers of industry, employees, pensioners, secondary residents) no longer share the culture, even less interest of farmers. These last are more attentive to the market's evolutions, less to these of the territory. The rupture is difficult to recognize. Regrouping of lands, erosions, pollutions, evolution of landscapes : these sources of conflicts subtract to farmers a certain legitimacy to represent the rural world. Finally the rural territory is marked by authorities, public or private. Although majority owners, farmers master less and less the future of the land.