Starting from existing data — unfortunately rare and often insufficiently reliable — the writer attempts to estimate how great the transfer of capital (land, housing, capital invested) is from the generation that ceased farming in 1977 to that that began farming that year. He attemps to distinguish between the part of the capital that is immediately taken over by the new generation and the part they will acquire progressively. The rules governing succession obviously plays an important part in this transfer which is more and more difficult to finance in spite of increasing State aid and aid from the collectivity. This is what the difficult situation of the past few years shows, since it has resulted in a perceptible increase in the debts of farmers in spite of considerable inflation. Questions must therefore be raised concerning the future course of law and agricultural policy.
