The Modernization Imperative

The "Thirty Glorious Years" (1945-1975) of economic growth transformed rural France more dramatically than the previous thousand years. Tractors replaced horses, milking machines replaced hand milking, chemical fertilizers replaced manure. Yields soared - wheat production doubled, milk production tripled. France became Europe's leading agricultural exporter.

Yet this success story had its shadows. The JAC (Jeunesse Agricole Chrétienne) and other movements promoted modernization but also witnessed the destruction of traditional rural society. The remembrement - consolidation of scattered plots into efficient units - rationalized the landscape but destroyed hedgerows, paths, and habitats evolved over centuries. Monoculture replaced diversity. Chemical inputs promised liberation from nature's constraints but created new dependencies and environmental problems.

Social changes paralleled economic ones. Television arrived in villages, bringing urban culture and consumer aspirations. Cars enabled daily commuting, breaking the isolation that had preserved rural distinctiveness. Rural youth increasingly attended secondary schools in towns, acquiring educations that led away from farming. Young women, in particular, rejected the hard life of the farmer's wife for urban employment.