Agricultural and Rural Development Policies. Comparisons between Switzerland and France

Swiss agricultural policy, as Switzerland is in the hearth of Europe, offers an interesting case to be studied. Whilst agricultural policies of the neighboring countries are very similar, depending for a large part from the Common Agricultural Policy, Switzerland held a specific agricultural policy, with a strong territorial dimension, and has been able to change it recently in an original manner. Without ignoring the limits of any comparative analysis, notably due to the geographical and scale heterogeneity, this paper aims to highlight some elements of analysis and some questions and to assess the agricultural policies implemented respectively in France and Switzerland.