France

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Metropolitan France covers around 549.190 km ². The country benefits from big maritime facades which brings a moderated climate favorable to agriculture, with oceanic variations in the West and the North, semi-continental in the East and mediterranean in the South. Most departments and overseas territories (DOM TOM) benefit from tropical conditions thanks to their geographic situation and give to France a very large maritime and forested domain. France posseses the third exclusive economic zone (ZEE) in the world behind the United States and Great Britain due to its maritime openings on whole planet oceans. In spite of this privileged access to large fishing zones, the Northeast Atlantic Ocean remains the fishing zone of a large part of the French fishing fleet.
French agriculture has been modernizing but it respects the specificity of the regions. Today, because of new techniques, grains and feeds are cultivated on all the territory and breeding extends beyond traditional zones. Nevertheless, some productions remain so typical of a soil that some products are named after their regions or their cities (champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux, poultry of Bresse, nuts of Grenoble, the Livarot, the Roquefort, the Munster, Mützig's beer).

Agricultural population (in thousands)

Total population

60 434

Agricultural population

1 659

Non agricultural population

58 775

Source : 2004, FAOSTAT

Land use

Cultivated surface area

29 690 000

Irrigated surface area

2 600 000

Number of farms

567 140

Number of tractors

1 264 000

Source : 2003, FAOSTAT

Production indicators

Main crops

Source : 2005, FAOSTAT

Livestock

Source : 2005, FAOSTAT

Fishing (in metric tons)

Source : 2005, FAOSTAT