A Green Revolution for France?

The French economy underwent a fundamental transformation in the thirty years following World War II. In 1944, agriculture still accounted for a full third of the active adult working population. And farming looked much as it had in the nineteenth century. Plots were scattered rather than consolidated; draught animals, rather than machines, did the heavy labour; and products were destined for local, rather than national, distribution. By 1981, France was the world's second largest exporter of agricultural goods. The sector was vibrant, efficient, and earned the nation so much money that it was referred to as the 'green petroleum' industry. What happened in France was attempted elsewhere in the same time period. The United States set up the Mexican Agricultural Program, designed to modernise Mexican farming and turn it into an export-dollar-earning industry. Moving further abroad, American scientists pursued similar projects in India, the Philippines, and parts of Africa, a series of agricultural projects that came to be known as the Green Revolution. But what happened in France is not included in this narrative. France was not a 'developing' country. But the early years of its agricultural overhaul were in fact paid for with American financial aid, by way of the Marshall Plan. Moreover, these changes were designed to alleviate rural poverty, a problem that also formed the core of Green Revolution projects. With my paper, I will interrogate the reasons why state-mandated modernisation in France is celebrated as economic growth, while similar projects abroad fall under the umbrella of 'development'. In putting my paper in conversation with my co-panelists, I hope to understand more fully what sets the French story, and perhaps more broadly the western European story, apart from the stories of less wealthy countries that similarly attempted to move their economies in the direction of industrial modernity.