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Abstract
What is referred to in France as reasoned agriculture appeared in the 1990s as a professional response from intensive-agriculture farmers to the awareness of farming pollutions. Since 2002 it has been the object of a self qualification
procedure covering farms and products. A legal analysis shows that the mechanism corresponds to the setting up of an incentive policy in a field already covered by regulations defining legal obligations. Public authorities, combining restrictions and incentives, institute a hybrid policy the legal validity of which may possibly
be questioned.