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The periodic variations in the prices of products and inputs are shaking up French agriculture more than its German or Dutch counterparts. Is our national pride threatened by globalisation and the decline of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)? Valéry Elisséeff, director of the SAF, a think-tank created in 1867 and the source of numerous innovations during the 19th and 20th centuries, shows that agriculture is faced with the formidable challenge of competition, and that cultural norms and agricultural institutions throughout the world remain very short-sighted as they resist change. The state has a role to play, but politicians and voters are not well informed about agriculture, and they tend to focus on the CAP which claims hollow victories. Europe has an important role to play in the face of increasing global demand, and France has a technical training system which is the envy of the world. Will France be able to forget its archaic ways and focus on its assets instead?