New Agricultural Practices: How Are Students Being Trained and Adapting to Changes in Their Profession?
New, more environmentally friendly agricultural production methods are gaining traction. But how are students being trained in these practices, and how are they responding to the transformations in their profession?
Major agricultural events often serve as platforms to promote initiatives aligned with the “agroecological transition.” For instance, at the recent Paris Agricultural Show, Oupette, the mascot for the 2025 edition, and her owner, Alexandre Humeau, were not chosen at random. Humeau’s farm is committed to conservation agriculture, which reduces the use of pesticides by maintaining soil cover and leveraging earthworms’ natural activity.
Beyond communication strategies, are agricultural training programs genuinely incorporating more agroecological knowledge? And how are young people perceiving these changes?
Teaching to Produce Differently: A Political Mandate
Since the 1960s, agricultural education has been shaped by the objectives set by the Ministry of Agriculture, both in terms of agricultural policy and environmental concerns. However, it was after the 2007 Grenelle Environmental Forum that the ministry developed learning programs aimed at “producing differently.”
This shift has led to the integration of alternative production methods and cultivation techniques, such as conservation agriculture and organic farming, into practical training at agricultural high schools. These schools, which operate their own farms (similar to technical workshops in vocational schools), are now required to adopt practices that reduce the use of chemical inputs.
Most public agricultural high schools now have organic farming workshops, allowing students to experiment with new cultivation methods. While these practical demonstrations align with the ministry’s directives, the lack of a formal theoretical framework for these practices has drawn criticism from organic farming advocates.
Specialized vocational training in organic farming remains relatively rare, with only about a dozen of the 800 agricultural education institutions offering such programs. Historically, organic farming has been more prevalent in adult education programs, particularly those focused on peasant agroecology, promoted by the Confédération Paysanne. These programs often attract career changers looking to transition into organic farming as part of a broader lifestyle shift.
As a result, organic farming still occupies a marginal role in initial training programs, confined to specific, well-defined areas.
Mixed Attitudes Toward Agroecology Among Students
Surveys of students in agricultural vocational programs reveal a reluctance to embrace agroecological practices that challenge the productivist agricultural model. While students are open to reducing pesticide use and minimizing water waste, they remain skeptical of organic farming, despite its inclusion in their curriculum.
Instead, they favor “reasoned agriculture,” which relies on advanced machinery equipped with digital sensors to optimize resource use. They also associate agroecology with local, short-supply-chain farming, which reduces transportation costs.
Attitudes toward agroecology vary significantly based on students’ backgrounds and their chosen specializations. For example, in viticulture, students often reference the High Environmental Value (HVE) certification, which is less stringent than organic certification. In livestock farming, strategies like diversifying crops and herds based on local conditions are seen as effective ways to reduce agriculture’s impact on biodiversity and limit the use of veterinary drugs.
However, organic farming is widely rejected across various agricultural sectors, particularly in mixed crop-livestock farming. Several factors explain this resistance. Students in agricultural education are influenced by the political and union debates within the farming community, where opinions on agroecological practices are deeply divided.
Many students perceive organic farming as less productive and view alternative production methods as a step backward, associating chemical use with technological progress. Aesthetic judgments also play a role, with some students considering organic farming “messy.” These perceptions are significant, as farmers see themselves not only as food producers but also as stewards of the landscape.
The Influence of Family Background
While not all students come from farming families (only 10% do), those who do are deeply embedded in the agricultural world, often working on family farms during weekends and holidays. These familial influences shape their perspectives. Students from families more attuned to agroecological practices are more likely to support radical changes in farming methods.
For most students, who enter training programs with near-professional knowledge of agriculture, the school farms are not their primary reference points. Instead, they identify more closely with their parents or internship supervisors, who serve as their professional role models. This explains why organic farming practices at school farms are often rejected.
Family influence can be beneficial when parents are already committed to changing their farming practices. Students from non-agricultural backgrounds, on the other hand, are more open to the agroecological knowledge taught in schools. However, they face greater challenges in entering the agricultural profession, which remains highly socially reproductive, particularly due to barriers like access to land.
In conclusion, while agroecological practices are gradually being integrated into agricultural education, their adoption by students remains uneven, shaped by a complex interplay of familial, professional, and societal influences.
