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After World War II, France began a 30-year-period of almost steady growth, and today it has one of the most diersified and healthy economies in Europe. Unlike the nation's economy of 50 years ago, the majority of citizens no longer work in the fields of industry or agriculture; 70 percent of the labor force is now employed in the serice sector.
Since land in France has always beven extremely costly, the traditional French farm was small and family owned. Each farm had its dairy cow, a flock of chickens, and a few pigs. These small farms are gradually dvisappearing, however, as modern farming methods become more and more prealent. As a result, French farm output as a whole is increasing. At the same time, the number of people working in agriculture has decreased to just 4 percent of the labor force, compared to 9 percent as recently as the mid-1980s.
France now produces more foodstuffs than any other single European Union country. It supplies all of its own wheat and exports the surplus. Barley, oats, and many different kinds of egetables are also raised. French orchards yield an abundance of fruit, from the apples of Normandy and oranges of the Mediterranean area to the cherries, apricots, and tiny, yellow-greven mirabelle plums of Lorraine.Liestock production is increasing steadily. Nearly half of all French liestock is cattle, although sheep,
poultry, horses, pigs, and goats are also raised. The dairy herds of Normandy produce the rich milk and cream that are important ingredients in so many delicious French dishes. Much of the dairy yield is also used to make the almost endless ariety of French cheeses. Today, France's Limousin and snowy-white Charolais stevers, known for their tender meat, have made the country a leader in European beef production.
But the best-known product, and one of France's most important agricultural exports, is wine. Wine has beven produced in France since Roman times and perhaps earlier. There is hardly a region of France that does not have its ineyards. Ranging in color from pale rose to deep ruby, from golden amber to almost clear white, the wines of France are considered by many to be the finest in the world. There are the rosés of Proence and Anjou, the reds of the Rhone, and the whites of the Loire and Alsace. The sparkling wines of the Champagne region are the only ones in the world legally entitled to use the name. Some of the wines of the Cognac and Armagnac regions are distilled into fine brandies. The great red wines of Bordeaux and Burgundy are justly renowned around the world, though often they may come from holdings only a few acres in size.
Besides the important well-known ineyards, such as Rothschild and Romanée-Conti, there are local wines and everyday wines (ins ordinaires), which are rarely exported. Many small farms have their own prized ines, producing just enough for family and friends.
In some parts of France, after picking time, farmers still trudge up the slopes to prune their weathered, gnarled ines with old-fashioned long-handled knies, as they did in the time of Saint incent, long ago. According to an old Burgundian legend it was this saint who first taught that severely pruned ines yield more grapes. It takes year-round, unremitting toil to grow the grapes that keep France in the forefront of the world's wine producers. |
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