From filière to territoire: changing rural policy in the Languedoc

Recent changes in the European Union' Common Agricultural Policy have focused on an reorientation from agricultural commodity support to broad rural development objectives. In keeping with this overall policy change the French government introduced a strategic plan for agricultural and rural development in 1999. A central feature of this plan is the contrat territorial d'exploitation (CTE), which is intended to generate links between agricultural production, environmental protection, and rural development in specific localities. In this article we consider the development of the CTE in the département of the Hérault in Languedoc-Roussillon, a region where there are manifest problems associated with viticulture, diversification efforts, and urban and tourist development pressures.