The chalky part of Champagne covers about 900 000 hectares and extends over parts of five départements in the East of the Paris Basin. The history of the area has been marked by ample economic fluctuations. Long term depopulation led to a large farm structure. It was shown that the potential of this land is high under proper management and abundant fertilization. Considerable development thus occured since 1945 in part because 120 000 hectares of idle or forest land were ploughed up.
