Objectives and organization
Chambres d’Agriculture France

 A network of 114 establishments working for farmers and rural community

The Chambers of agriculture are unique organisations half way between the public sector and agricultural professionals: they carry out studies and formulate opinion for government and local authorities on agricultural topics.

Their role is also to offer services to farmers in the interest of agriculture in general, thanks to a network of 8 000 employees (6 500 scientists and technicians), and by participating in joint projects with other partners.

Our aim is to prepare the future agriculture which will combine economic efficiency and environmental performance.

For the Chambers of agriculture, key elements of the sustainability concept are:

• profit because a farmer should be able to live off the economical gains of his/her farm,
• liveability because farmers want an integrated social life like every other professional category,
• reliability because the agricultural sector provides much of the food supply and food security is the no. 1 priority for consumers,
• adaptability to benefit from or initiate technological, economical or social evolution,
• renewability in order to maintain sufficient numbers of farms that guarantee a strong economical farming network.

 The local establishment for cattle breeding working for cattle breeders

Cattle breeding is the first sector of activity of the Chamber of agriculture with more than 1 300 scientists and experimental farms all over France.

The Chambers of agriculture are responsible for directing and bringing coherence to actions for cattle breeding development. This is achieved by organising meetings between the different actors within the cattle orientation committees which exist in every administrative region. Chambers of agriculture have first responsibility for animal identification and traceability in cattle movements.

This activity is crucial at every level of the cattle industry and provides necessary support for all actions undertaken on farms: sanitary, reproduction, performance recording, consultancy, marketing, as well as being used by the French administration in managing subsidies and in the application of various regulations. Security and reliability are the key words for this activity supervised by the Chambers of agriculture, which has become a reference in France and also abroad.

The local establishments for cattle breeding are also in charge of pedigree certification, the first step to reliable and efficient genetic improvement programs.

In addition to these public service missions delegated by the government exclusively to the local establishments for cattle breeding, the Chambers of agriculture offer a wide range of services to farmers. In comprehending farms as a whole, consultants offer advice that enables farmers to continually adapt to economic and policy changes and to optimise their farm performance and income