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International audience; Despite a constant decline in grassland areas in the last decades at regional and national scales in France, in particular on lowland dairy cattle areas, grasslands could have been maintained locally. The aim of this paper is to study the reasons of grassland maintenance crossing animal sciences and sociology on the territory (3 case studies) and farm scale (one case study). On the local scale, by looking at the evolution of the agrarian system we identified long-term factors, on local and larger scales, that potentially lead to grassland maintenance. They combined the following: i) a dairy specialisation with a high number of market opportunities, ii) a diversity of advice services on grassland management suited to the diversity of farmer profiles, iii) local public policies and social relations in favour of agriculture and agroecological practices. When this combination occurs, a large diversity of dairy systems with variable grasslands roles exists. On the farm scale, by studying the grassland practices over the long term and the farmers' conceptions of grasslands, we observed that grassland maintenance takes place either through a complete redesign of the fodder system or through the hybridization of practices aimed at obtaining dairy systems that are still intensive but try to be more agri-ecological. The hybridation processes are favoured by i) the coexistence of a strong diversity of forage management practices and ways of thinking the forage production and ii) their interaction in numerous dialogue networks.

International audience; The aim of this paper is to gain an under standing into how agricultural policies have affected structural change in the French dairy sector. A nonstationary Markov model is estimated using a Generalized Cross Entropy approach. Results show that while the price of cow’s milk encourages farm growth, direct payments and quota restriction favor small farms. The price signal is a key factor of structural change. As a result, higher milk prices may accelerate the trend toward the further growth of dairy farms. Settlement policy and technical change seem not to slow this trend.; L’objectif de cet article est de comprendre comment les politiques agricoles ont affect´e le changement structurel dans le secteur laitier en France. Un modèle de Markov non stationnaire utilisant l’approche de Cross Entropie Généralise a été estimée. Les résultats montrent qu’alors que le prix du lait encourage l’augmentation de la taille des exploitations, les paiements directs et le quota laitier sont plutôt en faveur des petites exploitations. Le signal prix est un facteur clé du changement structurel. En conséquence, des prix du lait plus élevés pourraient accélérer la tendance vers des exploitations laitières de plus grande taille. Les aides `a l’installation et le changement technique ne semblent pas freiner cette tendance.

In this paper, we attempt to ascertain to what extent the clusters identified in the agricultural and agri-food space rely on a spatial dynamic involving real agricultural and agri-food activities in the relevant geographic area. We use explanatory spatial data analysis (ESDA) to detect the spatial structure and dynamics of agri-food activities and to connect them to the competitiveness clusters’ locations. Results show that the six clusters specifically studied have different profiles because of their proximity to dynamic areas of agricultural and agrifood production and because of their collaborations with other clusters.

International audience; In this paper, we attempt to ascertain to what extent the clusters identified in the agricultural and agri-food space rely on a spatial dynamic involving real agricultural and agri-food activities in the relevant geographic area. We use explanatory spatial data analysis (ESDA) to detect the spatial structure and dynamics of agri-food activities and to connect them to the competitiveness clusters' locations. Results show that the six clusters specifically studied have different profiles because of their proximity to dynamic areas of agricultural and agri-food production and because of their collaborations with other clusters.; Dans ce document, les auteurs tentent de déterminer dans quelle mesure les grappes identifiées dans l'espace agricole et agroalimentaire reposent sur une dynamique spatiale impliquant de véritables activités agricoles et agroalimentaires dans la zone géographique concernée. Ils utilisent l'analyse explicative des données spatiales (ESDA) pour détecter la structure spatiale et la dynamique des activités agroalimentaires et pour les relier à la localisation des pôles de compétitivité. Les résultats montrent que les six pôles spécifiquement étudiés ont des profils différents en raison de leur proximité avec des zones dynamiques de production agricole et agroalimentaire et de leurs collaborations avec d'autres pôles.