ABSTRACT
The development of modern communications networks was the decisive stimulus to innovation in agriculture in the second half of the nineteenth century. In a modern agriculture productivity is substantially increased by inputs of working capital in the form of fertilizer and mechanical power. This chapter considers the key indicators of change in French agricultural productivity. It examines the basic structural characteristics of French agriculture, particularly farm structure and labour supply. The chapter offers some explanations both for the general increase in labour productivity and for the survival of basic differences between regions. Productivity can be calculated in terms of yields per hectare or per seed, but labour productivity seems more appropriate in the period when labour ceased to be abundant and its cost increased. The modifications considered so far constituted labour-intensive responses to new market opportunities. The provision of better access to major urban markets was everywhere the factor of crucial importance.
