France's agriculture benefits from a large agricultural area (292 800 km² about 1/2 ha per inhabitant) and a favourable geographical and climatic situation. France has become the leading agricultural country in the European Union with 18% of European agricultural and agri-food products. The main productions are crops (wheat, 1st in Europe and 5th in the world; corn, 8th in the world) and sugar (7th in the world), wine (2nd in the world), milk (3rd in the world) and dairy products, fruit and vegetables, livestock and meat products (5th in the world for beef). Agriculture occupies 53.2% of the surface area of France. It employed 3.4% of the total working population. The sum of the agriculture, forestry, agri-food and wood industry sectors represented more than 1,800,000 employees or employers, generating 4.5% of French GDP, or just over 72 billion euros. Agriculture benefits from a large part of European aid, but average agricultural income remains very low locally.   The Observatoire des Usages de L’Agriculture Numérique (Digital Agriculture Adoption Observatory - http://agrotic.org/observatoire/chaire-agrotic/) gathers data on PA use in French agriculture. It is a partnership involving two universities, eight research institutes and 28 companies (cooperatives, manufacturers or service providers in digital agriculture). The ...more