L'exploitation agricole individuelle en droit français et communautaire

Despite an increasing shift towards different types of company holding over the past few years, in particular in the form of Gaecs (Groupement agricole d'exploitation commune), Earls (Exploitation agricole à responsabilité limitée) and Sceas (Société civile d'exploitation agricole), individual family type agricultural holdings (considered by some as undertakings) still make up 85 % of the total number of farms. This phenomenon needs to be analyzed. Given the fact that farming mentalities remain attached to the farming model as laid down in the 1960 framework Agriculture Act (article 2, family type holding structure, 2 person-work units), which the most recent framework Agriculture Act (1999) has not modified, it would be appropriate to think again about the necessity of the recognition of a status with legal universality (universum jus) for this majority type of holding. Decisions handed down by the Highest French Court show small signs of change in several rulings of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. A fiscal approach, as recommended by the European Committee of Agricultural Law, appears to be best way of addressing this difficult problem, by discreetly enabling the law to serve as a framework for agricultural policy and economics.