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France's Geography

 

These forests are administered by the National Forestry Office and are well managed. But the situation is very different for the remaining 11 million hectares, which belong to 3.7 million private owners, two thirds of whom own less than a hectare.
             Although diverse, the natural resources of France are relatively limited in quantity. France has some coal, iron ores, bauxite, and uranium; but the coal veins are deep and difficult to work and are unsuitable for use in the manufacture of steel. Iron ores are of a low grade, and the uranium ore is found only in small quantities. Deposits of petroleum are almost extinct, and natural gas reserves discovered in 1951 at Lacq in the Pyrenées are now nearly exhausted. Hydroelectric production does not meet France's needs. On the other hand, high-quality soils cover almost half the country's surface, giving France an agricultural surplus that makes it an exporter of food.
             France is the EU's top agricultural economy, ahead of Germany, accounting for 22% of the fifteen member States' total production. It is also the world's second largest exporter of agri-foodstuffs, behind the USA, and in 1999 had an agricultural trade surplus of over 50 billion francs ($8.3 billion). Although French agriculture now employs only 6% of the total workforce and accounts for only 2% of the national GDP, it is nonetheless one of France's most dynamic sectors. During the last three decades, it has undergone a remarkable modernization leading to a spectacular increase in productivity and yields. This radical change has affected not only rural landscapes and production methods, but also people and their attitudes. Modern farmers running farms as businesses using modern technology and management methods have replaced the traditional farmers with their small family farms.
             Agricultural modernization has been accompanied by a solid trend towards concentration, with the number of farms falling from 1,588,000 to 680,000 between 1960 and 1999, but their average size doubling to 39 hectares.


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