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Abstract
Until 1974 the mechanization of French farming developed in favourable circumstances ; so much so that it orientated if it did not dominate the technical model adopted during the farm industrialization period. This is due to three factors : an increase in labour costs, a rapid decrease in the active farm population, and conditions favouring the granting of loans for equipment. With the sudden change in the economic situation as a result of the oil crisis the dynamics of the farm machinery branch were modified. The aim of this article is to follow its re-orientations over the period 1956-1976. In order to do this two main periods must be distinguished — the period of the expansion or spreading of the mechanical model (1956-65) and the period of mere renewal of the market (1966- 1976). In particular the following relationships will be pointed out : — the relationship between the dynamics of the home market and industrial structuring —the relationship between the dynamics of the home market and the modification of the range of products. The main hypotheses concerning the strategies of the machinery industry when faced with the relative structuring of farm markets will be worked out from this analysis.