The French Chambers of Agriculture facing the commercialisation of services to farmers

Résumé En

The French Chambers of Agriculture facing the commercialisation of services to farmers Advisors of the Chambers of Agriculture increasingly provide advice as invoiced services. These provisions of services can take place within the framework of a public service or be invoiced to farmers to obtain benefits. Our hypothesis is that the invoicing of services, in any case, changes the job of advisor both in its practice and in its orientation. We explore this hypothesis on the basis of a survey carried out in 2008 with 300 advisors of the French "departmental" Chambers of Agriculture of 3 "Regions," Bourgogne, Franche-Comté, and Rhone-Alpes through interviews conducted with advisors. The survey results show that there is a split between two positions amongst the agents of the Chambers of Agriculture: 56% of the agents surveyed thought the public service dimension should be reinforced whereas 44 %thought that the commercialisation dimension should be increased. The split between these two options cannot be explained by age, gender or social background. Rather, it seems to be related more directly to the positions and organisational schemes of the Chambers. Whatever the advisor's opinion, invoicing the services transforms their advising practices.