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Abstract
In the farm sector, solidarity is most commonly transformed into a large number of institutions. The different forms are related to the agricultural work, to the risks pertaining to it, to technical, commercial and financial activities and even to trade unions. This institutionalizing of solidarity does not exclude more spontaneous forms. These forms, the impact of which is considerable though it is difficult to account for, suffer however from the reduction of the active farm population. Cooperative structures of solidarity have an impact of preserving the family farm structure and could be considered as a compromise between free enterprising and a wellfare state type of protection. It should finally be stressed that agriculture seem to have conceived the forms of solidarity which correspond to its natural diversity and its vulnerability towards the market.