The present structure of agri-business tends ta produce very sophisticated foods, hence the demand for stable, half-finished, partially substitutable industrial products. But the economic uncertainties of farming remain. The initial processing industries, and also « newcomers » from the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors have a two-fold function : to absorb these uncertainties and to extract from agricultural raw materials and waste standard products for the agricultural and food industries lower down the line and for the chemical sectors. A methodology seems necessary.
