La mécanisation agricole en Italie et le développement du "contoterzisme" (1950-1990)

Résumé En Fr

Mechanization and agricultural contracting in Italy (1950-1990). The article deals with the mechanization of agriculture in Italy from the end of the Second World War till the présent day, with emphasis on the original characters of this development. In the matter of mechanization and the introduction of innovations in agriculture Italy was a latercomer as compared to other European countries. The rapid development that ensued made it possible to make up for the backwardness that largely characterized the ltalian situation. Theprocess has been supported by both the state and the "Federconsozi" underpinning the birth of a vigorous agricultural machinery industry. Alongside the stimulus comingfrom a national de- mandfor machines, ltalian industry (especially FIAT) has achieved an important position in the European and world marketsfor tractors. However, the rapid development of mechanization in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, together with the f ail in manpower in agriculture did not make for rational employment of machines or similarly rational management of costs. Several cases show machines available in far greater amount than is warranted by the actual require- ments of ltalian agricultural firms - most notably the small and very small ones. Witness of the crisis in agricultural mechanization in the nineteen-eighties was the marked fall in registration ofnew tractors, as well as the notable réduction in small mechanization ; along with this machines specifically intended for harvesting of products became more and more sophisticated and expensive, and in order to use them agricultural firms applied mainly to firms offering machinery services. The ongoing restructuring has entailed considérable concentration in the small machine industries, including takeovers by the larger groups. The difficulties involved in the processes of innovation over the last décade are bound up with the structural problems in ltalian agricultural firms, whose size has remained essentially the same during thèse last thirty years. At the same time, the restrictive policy in prices and production at Community level has led to much uncertainty as regards to prospects of growth and has contributed to holddown earnings from agriculture. With the expansion in firms offering mainly machinery services, agricultural contracting has taken on considérable importance, involving more than a million farms, more than one third of the total in Italy. Their activity now figures as a typical response by ltalian agricultural into structural rigidities. Agricultural contracting enables firms to externalize certain costs and various stages of the production process. It also provides a wider range of choice for the f armer, by increasing the degree of flexibility and adaptation. Agricultural contractors can thus be seen as vectors of innovation, of modernization and of restructuring of ltalian agriculture.

- L'article présente l'évolution de la mécanisation agricole en Italie, de l'après-guerre à nos jours, en soulignant l'originalité de ce développement. L'intervention de l'Etat et l'action de la "Federconsorzi", centrée sur le soutien à l'industrie des machines agricoles, ont permis d'éliminer le retard historique de l'agriculture italienne. Face à une forme de développement "industrio-centriste" imposée de l'extérieur et plutôt désorganisée, l'agriculture développait de l'intérieur, en consolidant la sous-traitance, une certaine rationalisation dans l'utilisation de machines, mieux adaptée à la spécificité structurelle de l'agriculture italienne. Les entreprises sous-traitantes (ou contoterzistes) fournissent des formes particulières de services, dont la plupart concernent le travail mécanique de la terre et la récolte des produits. La sous-traitance, proposée comme alternative à l'immobilisation de capitaux dans l'entreprise, élargit les possibilités de choix pour l'exploitant agricole, augmentant ainsi le degré de flexibilité et d'adaptation, si utiles en période d'incertitude. On peut pourtant considérer les entreprises "contoterzistes" comme des vecteurs de l'innovation, de la modernisation et d'une véritable restructuration de l'agriculture italienne.