This study is part of a larger one, requested by EC, devoted to the production costs of the main agricultural crops. It is based on the idea that taking into account the gross margin per ha of crop can throw some lights on the substitutions, orientations and specializations under way in the European cash crops sector, which are summarized by an analysis of the evolution of arable land to the main crops in France, Germany, Italy and United Kingdom. For different crops, soft wheat, hard wheat, barley, corn, oleaginous crops, sugar beet and potato, gross margins have been estimated, for each of these countries, from an econometric model, based upon a multiple linear regression. Their influence on the behaviour of farmers when they plan their farming systems, is being discussed, beyond the impacts of prices and yields.
