The following paragraphs are largely based on the survey carried out by SCEES during the period 1997-1999 with the aim of modelling fodder production at country level (Rabaud, 2000; Donet, 2001). Towards this end, France has been subdivided into 200 forage regions with an average surface of 250.000 ha. The minimum sampling area for each type of considered land use was set at 7000 ha.

Definitions - Table

Prairies permanent or naturelles are permanent grasslands. Prairies temporaires correspond to temporary grasses and grazings. Prairies artificielle corresponds to perennial green fodder.

The "rough grazings" include pasture land, producing moors and Alps pastures. For "temporary grasses and grazings" no breakdown is available in national statistics (EUROSTAT, 2001).

Description and Ecology

Natural grasslands are not widespread and may be found only on high mountains (subalpine areas) and in salty environments. All other herbaceous formations are semi-natural and maintained by grazing or other types of cultivation (Girard, 1992). In the Mediterranean part of the country (around 7 million ha or 12% of the country's area, located in Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur and Corse - Prosperi et al., 1992), livestock farming plays an important economic role in mountain areas during the period May-December, mainly for milk and dairy production. On plains, garrigues and low hills it is complemented with annual crops by grazing on stubble or secondary crops (Pluvinage, 1992) and on poor quality rangeland.

At national level, forage resources are distributed as follows:

• forage crops in association with livestock farming in the west: Bretagne, nord du Pays de la Loire
• mixed agriculture (cereals, forage, livestock): Poitou Charentes, Languedoc, Aquitaine, Nord du Bassin Parisien, and North-East : Vosges, Alsace et Lorraine, et le Centre-Est : Bresse, Nord du Rhône
• permanent pastures for livestock farming: Normandie, les Pyrénées, le Massif Central, la Savoie.

Livestock farming occurs in areas not used for specialized agriculture. Cattle for milk production are concentrated in Savoie, in Franche-Comté and in Normandie; cattle for meat production on the Massif Central and for both milk and meat production in Bretagne and in Pays de la Loire.

Corse, les Alpes du Sud et le sud du Massif Central have important resources in sheep and goats. Pigs are mainly present in the north of the country and in Bretagne , as well as poultry (35% of the total national production).

Summer drought can be severe and oblige farmers to re-sow their pastures. Approximately 500,000 ha of grassland are re-sown every year, their survival being highly dependent on severity of drought. Usually, Lolium multiflorum meadows are re-sown every 2-3 years, with about 7000 tons of L. multiflorum seeds used yearly (Beguier, 2002).

Area, Production and Yield

In 2001 utilised agricultural area (UAA) covered almost 54% of the country area, permanent grassland 34% of UAA and fodder crops 15% of UAA (CIHEAM, 2002).

Permanent grasslands in France cover approximately 10 million of hectares. There are 2.6 million of temporary grasses while temporary grazing areas were nil since 1980 (EUROSTAT).

In 2001 permanent grazing represented 60% of the grassland areas, the remaining 40% being permanent meadows; in 1970 the proportion between grazing and meadows areas was 65% and 35%.

Since 1970 permanent grassland areas have decreased by 29% or around 4 million hectares. Both grazings and meadows had an overall decreasing trend over the same period but in the middle 80s (1986) meadows increased by 1 million ha before steadily dropping down.

Table 1 reports the permanent grassland and fodder crops areas over the period 1980-2001. The effects of the 1992 CAP reform becomes evident from 1993 onwards and show a general reduction in agricultural area (UAA as well as extensive pastures), fodder crops and permanent grassland.

Within the grazing areas, herbages cover 3.5 million ha and rough grazing 2.4 million ha.

An estimate of the national productivity of temporary grasses and grazings is 81 q/ha vs. 59 q/ha for permanent grassland; significant differences exist among administrative regions as shown below. Yields have been indirectly determined by adding to the biomass harvested after each cut the estimates of the grazed biomass, calculated by the number of animals, grazing period and the theoretical daily ratio by each category of animals (Rabaud, 2000).

The trend of yields of permanent grassland areas is showed in figure 5.

Green fodder area on arable land decreased in the late 80s to stabilise around 4.5 million ha. Also perennial green fodder shows a decreasing trend but since the beginning of the 90s total area has been around 3 million ha.

Perennial green fodder is composed for the vast majority by lucerne ( Medicago spp.) and mostly produced in Picardie and Nord-Pas-de Calais (Rabaud, 2000). Perennial forage crops are used in all farming systems in the Mediterranean areas, in rotation with cereals or other annual crops. Annual forages, especially annual legumes, are not used (Prosperi et al., 1992). Lucerne in 2001 covered 316.485 ha; yields of lucerne regularly increased against a regular decrease of both planted area and production.

Composition and main Species - CROP-SHEETS

Intensive permanent grasslands belong to the phytosociological class Arrhenatheretea and to the alliance Triseto - Polygonion bistorti . Pastures are phytosociologically similar to hay meadows, though commonly related to the alliance Cynosurion cristati . Dominant grasses in fertile lands are Dactylis glomerata , Lolium perenne and Poa pratensis on well drained soil; Alopecurus pratensis , Festuca pratensis , Holcus lanatus and Poa trivialis where drainage is slower; less fertile lands are dominated by Agrostis tenuis , Anthoxanthum odoratum , Festuca rubra and Trifolium repens , the latter being very frequent and characteristic of areas receiving regular fertilization or direct restitution of nutrients by animals; Trisetum flavescens characterizes medium fertility soils (Loiseau et al., 1990).

More than 40% of the temporary grasses and grazings area is covered by Lolium multiflorum or L. perenne . L. multiflorum is prevalent in Picardie and Nord-Pas-des-Calais while L. perenne is mainly planted in Normandie , Bretagne , Pays de la Loire and Lorraine where it covers approximately 18% of the area. The other main species are Dactylis glomerata and Festuca spp.

Grasses sown in autumn are used both as silage and pasture (Beguier, 2002):

• Italian ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum ), cultivated mainly in the north west of France in an oceanic climate with some drought periods in summer, is used as silage and occasionally as pasture after the silage cut in spring. Italian ryegrass may be productive for two years.
• Hybrid ryegrass ( L. hybridum ), cultivated mainly in the centre of France in a more continental climate with more severe drought periods, is used as silage and as pasture for three to four years.
• Tall fescue ( Festuca arundinacea ), cultivated mainly in the south west of France in an oceanic climate but with severe drought periods during summer , is used as silage and pasture for more than four years.

Vegetation surveys of dairy alpine pastures carried out in the French northern west Alps (Bernard A., Cozic Ph., Brau-Nogué C., 1995) report the presence of the following alliances: Triseto - Polygonion bistorti, Caricion ferruginea, Nardion strictae, Molinion, Calthion, Caricion davallianae and Vaccinio-piceion. The main species of the Triseto - Polygonion bistorti alliance include: Dactylis glomerata, Cynosurus cristato, Deschampsia caespitosa, Rumex alpinus, Festuca rubra, Agrostis capillaris, Ranunculus aconitifolius and Nardus stricta.

Agronomic practices - GIS

Temporary grasses are mainly located in Picardie, Nord-Pas-des-Calais, Normandie, Bretagne, Pays de la Loire and Lorraine. Permanent grazing is widespread in the Bretagne and Limousin regions (62%) while in the rest of France permanent grasslands are for one half cut and grazed and for another half only utilized for grazing .

Usually, pastures are not irrigated, being irrigation reserved for growing silage maize (Beguier, 2002). Permanent grasslands are generally given less fertilisers than temporary grasses and grazings.

Perennial green fodder is for the vast majority subject to 3-4 cuts/year for the production of dehydrated lucerne in the Champagne-Ardenne region; it is cut and grazed in the Midi-Pyrénées region.

Temporary grasses and grazings are under an average of 4 cuts/year regime and both cut and grazing occur on 55% of the total land area.

Permanent grasslands have a national average of 3 cuts/yr; grazing is the only type of exploitation on 56% of the total land area and a cut and grazing regime applies on 36% of the area.

Sheep winter grazing is a practice implemented in the pre-alpine zone on rough grazings areas (rangelands). It follows the end of grazing in autumn and may last from a minimum of 40 days to a maximum of 120 days (Gautier d. et al ., 2002).

References

• Beguier V., 2002. Evaluation of the overall commercial value of increased stress resistance in Lolium cultivars and the market-opportunity within the grass-seed industry. In SAGES year 1 report, Annex 3. http://www.iger.bbsrc.ac.uk/igerweb/SAGES2/Eng_workpackages.htm
• Bernard A., Cozic Ph., Brau-Nogué C., 1995. Diversité spécifique et écologique des végétations des alpages laitiers des Alpes françaises du Nord. In: FAO REU Technical Series 39: Mountain grassland, biodiversity and agricultural value.
• CIHEAM, 2002. Développement et politiques agro-alimentaires dans la region méditerranéenne. Rapport annuel 2002 France. http://www.ciheam.org/
• Donet I., Le Bas C., Ruget F et Rabaud V., 2001. Informations et Suivi Objectif des Prairies. Guide d'utilisation d'ISOP. Agreste - Chiffres et Données Agriculture, n. 134 (55 pages), Météo France, INRA, Ministère de l'Agriculture et de la Pêche, Service Central des Enquêtes et Etudes Statistiques.
• EUROSTAT, 2001. Manual for current statistics on crop products. Doc. ASA/PE/611-final.
• Gautier D., Guérin G, Demarquet F., 2002. Winter pasture of sheep in the pre-alpine zone. In: Proceedings of the 19^th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, France. Multi-function grasslands: quality forages, animal products and landscape. Pages: 1034-1035.
• Girard C.M., 1992. Possible remote sensing use for grassland classification and mapping in France . In: Institute for Remote Sensing Applications, 1992. European collaborative programme workshop on grassland classification and mapping. S. Folving and C.M. Girard, eds., JRC and INAPG, Paris, 28-29 April 1992.
• Loiseau P, Montard de F.X. and Ricou G., 1990. Grasslands in Upland areas : The Massif Central (France). In Ecosystems of the World, Managed grasslands Regional studies (Breymeyer ed.), Vol. 17A, Elsevier: 71-96.
• Pluvinage J., 1992. Les systemes d'elevage et leurs besoins fourragers en zone méditerranéennes. Herba, 5 : 37-41
• Prosperi J.M., Angevain M. and Mansat P., 1992. Selection of annual medics for French Mediterranean regions. Herba, 5: 77-85
• Rabaud V., 2000. Les prairies en 1998. Agreste - Chiffres et Données Agriculture, n. 128 (73 pages) - Ministère de l'agriculture et de la pêche, Bureau des Statistique Végétales et Forestières,Toulouse.
• Recensements agricoles 1988 et 2000. AGRESTE : http://www.agreste.agriculture.gouv.fr/