There are two main tendencies concerning the repertoire of collective action of French farmers. While maintaining a certain continuity with respect to the traditional area of farming action, this repertoire is characterized by a marked widening of the public scene in the farmers' struggle. To understand this evolution, attention must be paid to the structural transformations of a political (moving away from the centres of power and changes in the relationship between State and profession) and organizational (reforming in the trade union scene) sectors. But attention should also be drawn to the way the State and the other components of society at large have reacted to the demands and forms of claiming action of farmers over the last twenty years.
