Looking for an unusual farm for sale in France? This page gathers the holdings that fit none of the main farming sectors, offered by retiring owners, rural agencies and notaries: a bee farm and honey house, a fish farm with ponds or trout tanks, a snail farm, a game unit, an equine holding outside the riding sector, a mushroom farm, a spirulina or insect unit, a saffron or medicinal-plant grower. Each listing states the buildings and the facility. It complements all the farms for sale in France on ma-propriete.fr.
These niche holdings rarely change hands and are hard to compare. Here are the benchmarks buyers lack: farmland prices region by region, where each production has taken root, the checks specific to these units and how a takeover unfolds. Our white paper « Créer une exploitation agricole » (in French) supports project holders, from the financial plan to the formalities.
On an unusual holding, land is rarely the largest item: value sits in the hives, the ponds, the pens or the processing room. Farmland prices still frame the negotiation, because the adjoining plots and pasture sell at the local market rate. Two sources place an offer: our statistics from the sales recorded by the French tax administration (DVF), and the SAFER benchmark.
Across France, 14,328 sales of agricultural land were recorded in 2025, at a median price of €5,307/ha (average €6,059/ha; 80% of transactions between €2,500 and €10,537/ha). The SAFER benchmark of land values puts vacant land and pasture at €6,460/ha (+0.9% year on year) and tenanted land at €5,350/ha (+2.5%), an average discount of around 17% where a tenant farmer is in place.
| Region | Sales 2025 (DVF) | DVF median price (€/ha) | SAFER vacant land (€/ha) | 1-year change | SAFER tenanted land (€/ha) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brittany | 1,297 | 5,500 | 6,540 | +0.3% | 5,180 |
| Pays de la Loire | 1,873 | 3,267 | 4,100 | +1.5% | 3,350 |
| Normandy | 1,442 | 8,305 | 9,610 | +2.9% | 8,410 |
| Hauts-de-France | 1,365 | 7,976 | 10,890 | -0.5% | 7,650 |
| Grand Est | 1,233 | 5,611 | 6,510 | -4.4% | 6,120 |
| Île-de-France | 214 | 7,465 | 8,190 | +5.7% | 7,000 |
| Centre-Val de Loire | 1,195 | 5,480 | 6,260 | -6.1% | 5,700 |
| Bourgogne-Franche-Comté | 1,303 | 2,773 | 2,740 | -6.2% | 2,750 |
| Nouvelle-Aquitaine | 2,103 | 4,538 | 5,770 | +5.5% | 3,900 |
| Occitanie | 995 | 7,015 | 7,260 | -0.3% | n/a |
| Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes | 1,230 | 3,887 | 5,100 | +4.9% | 4,140 |
| Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur* | 59 | 13,518 | 12,260 | +2.8% | n/a |
| Corsica* | 19 | 5,012 | — | — | n/a |
These productions follow no single map: beekeeping and saffron follow the south and the mid-altitude uplands, fish farming the pond regions, while snail and mushroom units sit closer to towns. Value depends less on the hectares than on the facility. From one region to the next, the benchmark varies fourfold, from €2,740/ha in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté to €10,890/ha in Hauts-de-France. See the full analysis, department by department, on our agricultural land price observatory, estimate your plots with the land value tool, and work out notary fees and borrowing capacity with our financial calculators. * Fewer than 100 recorded sales: indicative value. n/a: no tenanted-land benchmark published for this region.
Each niche production has its own facility, and that facility carries the value. A bee farm is judged on its hives, its migratory sites and its honey house; a fish farm on its ponds, its water flow and its water right; a mushroom farm on its climate-controlled rooms.
Buildings matter too: these farms live on direct sales and usually have an approved processing room, a farm shop, sometimes a holiday let for farm tourism.
There is no single production basin, only regional logics. Professional beekeeping is concentrated in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, Occitanie and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Pond fish farming occupies the Dombes, the Brenne, the Sologne and the Lorraine plateaux; trout farms follow the rivers of Brittany. Marine aquaculture lines the coasts of Normandy and Charente-Maritime, where an oyster farm or an aquaculture farm for sale appears.
A snail farm, a mushroom unit or a spirulina facility can turn up anywhere, generally near towns. Game units, equine holdings and small herds of donkeys or llamas remain scattered.
The first check concerns permits, which differ by production: a water right and an authorisation under water legislation for a fish farm, ICPE registration for a game or insect unit, a health declaration for hives, and a sanitary approval once processing exceeds local sales.
Next comes the outlet: these farms live on a customer base attached to the seller, which never transfers automatically. The land remains subject to SAFER pre-emption and the structures control.
The transaction takes many shapes: the seller sometimes sells buildings, land and facility as one lot; more often the land, the machinery, the stock — hives, fish, breeding animals — and a goodwill made of a brand and a customer list are sold separately. In a company, the purchase covers shares. Many projects begin as diversification: see making the most of farmland.
A solar farm or an anaerobic digestion unit follows the same logic of added income, explained in the benefits of a solar farm. For the buyer, a takeover follows an order: project, qualification, financing, accounts, permits, land; our guide to buying a farm details each step, and the guide to selling a farm prepares the handover.
No average price means anything here: an apiary with its honey house, a pond fish farm and a mushroom unit share no comparable item. The price is built element by element: land at the regional farmland price, buildings by condition and sanitary approval, facility and stock at replacement value, plus the direct-sales customer base where it transfers.
Yes. There is no nationality restriction on buying farm property in France, and these activities need no compulsory diploma. The agricultural professional qualification conditions setting-up aid, and the purchase goes through the structures control. Training alongside the seller remains essential.
A fish farm implies a water right attached to the site and an authorisation or declaration under French water legislation, to be verified before committing. A snail farm depends mainly on health rules and on its outdoor pens. Once processing goes beyond local selling, a sanitary approval is required.
Have the land, the buildings, the facility and the stock valued separately, not as one global figure. Ask for the accounts of the recent seasons, the permits, and the share of turnover coming from direct sales.
The unusual farms for sale on ma-propriete.fr come from private owners, rural estate agencies and notaries' offices. Filter by region, area, price or production, and set up an e-mail alert to hear as soon as a bee farm, a fish farm, a snail farm or another diversified smallholding comes to market. Selling your own? Post your listing on France's leading rural property portal.
