L'inégale prospérité des marchés agricoles en Anjou et en Poitou. Leur rôle dans l'organisation de l'espace

In: Etudes rurales: anthropologie, économie, géographie, histoire, sociologie ; ER, Volume 78, Issue 1, p. 151-167

Abstract

The Unequal Prosperity of Agricultural Markets in Anjou and Poitou. Their Role in Spatial Organisation.

The modernisation of agriculture has often resulted in the economic integration of agricultural markets. In the Deux-Sèvres and neighbouring departments, the situation is extremely diversified. Using numerous surveys and varied documents, the author analyses the temporal and spatial fluctuations of trading places according to the products sold (vegetables or cattle). He shows how their traditional roots have endured and underlines the extraordinary vitality of some of them.
The author also discusses the wider role of the agricultural market in urbanisation, its links with other urban functions such as employment and trade (sedentary or itinerant). He ends with some reflections on spatial organisation as he compares the urban network to the agricultural market network; certain similarities and differences are thus made clear for the area studied.