Updated on 8 April 2026: Find the most recent data on land prices on our Land Price Observatory (DVF data 2020-2025), which presents average and median prices and transaction ranges for your region and each department.
Updated on 2 September 2026: "The SAFER's right of pre-emption" section updated following Law No. 2026-796 of 18 August 2026.
Are you looking for a farm for sale?
Buying a farm is a process that can be complex and that is a decisive step in a life project.
In this article, we present all the important points you need to know to make your farm acquisition project a success. For each section, you will find a list of complementary articles to help you complete your information.
Finding a farm is not always easy, especially if you are not lucky enough to be a farmer's child and/or you cannot take over the family farm.
The majority of new farmers (around 2/3) still set up within the family. While finding a farm to take over may seem simple, it is frequently done in the context of an expansion and a partnership.
The "classic" path is often as follows: the young farmer takes over a neighbouring farm or agricultural land and goes into partnership with their parents. The expansion increases the overall income of the farm, which is then shared between parents and children.
A very detailed knowledge of the neighbourhood is an asset when it comes to contacting potential sellers close to the family farm. Financing the takeover is made easier by being backed by the family farm.
The transfer of the family farm then takes place when the parents retire. This phase can nevertheless prove complex, as it requires very broad thinking, particularly from a financial and asset perspective:
It is therefore not something to be improvised; on the contrary, it needs to be planned ahead. Calling on outside advisers (accountancy firm, notaries, banks, chamber of agriculture) is valuable, as it will help you ask the right questions.
A neologism designates people who wish to become farmers without coming from a farming background: NIMA – Non Issus du Milieu Agricole (not from a farming background). The existence of this term clearly expresses the specific characteristics of this group, whose first difficulty is finding a farm to take over.
While the press reports on the major challenge of generational renewal in agriculture, one might think it is easy to find farms to take over.
This is not the case, as the majority of farms are taken over either within the family or as part of an expansion. Pressure on land therefore remains strong overall throughout France.
The number of farms thus fell from 490,000 in 2010 to 390,000 in 2020. At the same time, the average farm size increased from 55 to 69 hectares (Source INSEE – Number of farms).
You therefore need to use all existing services to find a farm for sale. Here are a few of them:
The sale price of farms varies enormously. By way of example, on our site you can find arable farms of several hundred hectares for sale at prices well above 5 million euros.
Conversely, you will also find farms for less than 100,000 euros comprising a few hectares of land and small farm buildings.
Most often based on an asset-based approach, the price will depend both on the size of the farm to be purchased and on the various elements that make it up:
To assess the land component, refer to our land price observatory, which summarises actual transactions from DVF data: in 2024, the national average price is €6,038/ha, with very strong regional disparities (from €2,904/ha in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté to €13,007/ha in PACA).
In Brittany, the average price of a farm is thus close to €300,000 (for an individual farm set-up). This average conceals major disparities depending on the size of the farm taken over and the intended production. For example, the average cost of a dairy farm was €687,000 in 2023 (source – CRÉATION - REPRISE - TRANSMISSION / Key figures 2023).
The purchase price of a farm must therefore be considered in light of each project, the profitability of the farm, the means of production required and local prices, which can vary considerably.
Buying a farm may require additional investment. Depending on your project, you may need to convert buildings, acquire additional equipment or livestock, etc. You absolutely must calculate the amount of these investments from the moment of your initial purchase.
Some of these investments may be compulsory in order to comply with standards (classified installations, livestock health protection, electrical compliance, etc.)
The same applies when buying the dwelling house, for which it may be necessary, for example, to install a new individual sewage system.
In addition to the purchase price of a farm, you will certainly have additional costs:
Find out more:
It is entirely possible to become a farmer without an agricultural qualification. But the path will undoubtedly be harder.
Having a qualification will make it easier to obtain:
The investment required to buy a farm is high. You will probably need external financing for this purchase.
A bank will lend you money if your project is viable (economic study) and if the risk is limited.
Crop and livestock farming are highly specialised activities that require technical skills. The banks you approach will therefore look closely at your skills, which are the result of your training and experience.
Training is therefore a guarantee of competence that reduces risk and will make it easier to obtain a loan.
To be eligible for setting-up grants, you must hold the Agricultural Capacity. This is obtained either through professional experience or through an agricultural qualification of at least level IV.
This means a qualification such as:
The range of agricultural training courses is very wide and is provided by numerous public and private institutions throughout France.
It is possible to take a Brevet Professionnel de Responsable d'Exploitation Agricole (Farm Manager Vocational Certificate) as part of continuing education. You can also validate certain Capitalisable Units (UC) through Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (VAE).
If you only have a level III agricultural qualification (CAPA, BEPA, BPA), you will need to prove at least 24 months of professional agricultural activity over the last 3 years.
Without a level III or IV agricultural qualification, you must prove at least 40 months of professional agricultural activity over the last 5 years.
You cannot talk about buying a farm without addressing the question of rural leases (articles L411-1 et seq. of the Rural Code). More than half of the agricultural land in France is farmed under the tenant farming statute.
Buying a farm rarely happens without leasing part of the land. This may be a choice by the owners, who wish to receive rent. Or it may be a necessity under the financing plan.
It can indeed be difficult to buy all of the land when setting up. Using bank financing to buy land generally costs more than paying rent.
We have devoted a series of articles to the specific regulations governing rural leases, which we invite you to consult to complete your information.
The main points to remember:
This is a key stage in the process of buying a farm. Against the overall requirement of your investment (purchase price, additional investment, ancillary costs), you need to find equivalent financial resources.
Self-financing is the savings you invest in your project. There is no regulatory minimum for self-financing, but banks would like project holders to have self-financing of around 20%.
Banks are the primary financers of agricultural projects. While all credit institutions can support an agricultural project, certain banks (Crédit Agricole, Crédit Mutuel, Banque Populaire, etc.) have dedicated departments with specialist advisers.
They are therefore able to understand your project, support you and advise you.
As part of the review of your financing application, you will need to submit a multi-year forecast study, also known as a Business Plan. This document, prepared by a professional, aims to verify that the future profitability of your farm will enable you to meet your expenses, repay your loans, pay yourself a salary and cope with additional investment needs.
Agricultural capacity allows you to apply for Young Farmer grants if you are under 40.
You will need to follow a pathway that includes drawing up a Personalised Professional Project and presenting a Business Project (4-year economic study).
The specific setting-up grants include:
The beneficiary must commit to certain conditions for a minimum of 4 years, in particular:
The chambers of agriculture in each department have a Point Accueil Installation (Setting-up Welcome Point) which supports you through all the steps to benefit from these grants.
It is also possible to apply for other grants from:
You can also draw on other financing solutions:
We have devoted a series of articles to alternative financing, including land carrying and crowdfunding solutions specific to agricultural projects.
A farmer comes under the social security scheme of the Mutualité Sociale Agricole (MSA) and not the general Social Security scheme.
The particularity of the MSA is that it brings together all of farmers' social protection under a single scheme: health insurance, family benefits, occupational accidents, vocational training and pensions (basic and supplementary).
Farmers' social security contributions are calculated on agricultural income. Your choice of tax regime therefore has a strong impact on the amount of your MSA social security contributions.
CONTRIBUTION REDUCTIONS FOR YOUNG FARMERS
Young farmers benefit from a reduction in their social security contributions spread over 5 years.
|
|
% exemption |
Exemption ceiling |
|
1st year |
65% |
€3,204 |
|
2nd year |
55% |
€2,711 |
|
3rd year |
35% |
€1,725 |
|
4th year |
25% |
€1,232 |
|
5th year |
15% |
€739 |
Like any business, a farm must declare its profits every year.
There are 3 tax regimes applicable to farmers:
Micro BA
Small farms can benefit from the Micro Agricultural Profit (Micro-BA) regime. If your receipts do not exceed 85,800 euros, your taxable profit will be equal to 13% of your receipts. You can opt for an Actual Profit regime if you wish.
This regime has the merit of simplicity but can prove disadvantageous if your activity generates a loss in the early years.
Actual Profit
The Actual Profit regime requires full accounting and determines the result as the difference between your income and your expenses.
The Simplified Actual Profit regime requires, as its name suggests, reduced formalities and applies to businesses with receipts of between €82,800 and €352,000.
The Normal Actual Profit regime applies automatically from €352,000 in receipts.
If your receipts exceed €46,000, your activity will be compulsorily subject to VAT.
In this case, you will need to declare the VAT paid on your expenses and the VAT collected on your sales. If you have collected more VAT than you have paid, you must repay this amount to the Treasury. Conversely, if you have paid more VAT than you have collected, the Treasury will refund you the difference.
You can choose between annual, quarterly or even monthly returns.
If your receipts are below €46,000, you benefit from the flat-rate refund regime, which allows you to receive a payment from the State proportional to your receipts.
The options for the various tax and VAT regimes are chosen at the time of registration with the CFE. It is therefore necessary to have chosen the right regime. The safest solution is to contact an accountancy firm that will support you in choosing the regimes and completing the formalities.
You must choose the legal status of your business: sole proprietorship or company.
If you are carrying out a project with several people, choosing a company will be almost automatic and will also have implications for your tax and VAT situation.
If you are on your own, setting up a company is nevertheless an option, in particular to separate your private assets from your business assets.
While certain companies are specially adapted to the agricultural sector (GAEC, EARL, etc.), you can nonetheless carry out your farming activity through a civil company, an SARL, etc.
The choice of your legal regime must be thought through before starting. It is essential to seek support from advisers at the Chamber of Agriculture, an accountancy firm, a lawyer or a notary.
This is an important stage in the process of buying a farm. It is the signing of your commitment to purchase the property.
Whether drawn up by a lawyer, a notary or an estate agent, you must examine this contract carefully.
More and more farmers are developing side activities in order to diversify and secure their income.
Rural tourism is one of the most common forms of diversification. The presence of old farm buildings makes it possible to develop accommodation activities (rural gîtes, bed and breakfasts). A location close to tourist attractions is an asset for developing this type of activity.
We have written specific articles for these tourism projects:
Processing and direct sale of agricultural products are also among the most common forms of diversification. These are projects that often require fairly substantial investment (processing facility, sales premises, etc.) and sufficient labour.
Organic farming and agroecology, more than diversifications, are sustainable farming practices that are more respectful of the environment. They can help secure income and be a prerequisite for other diversifications.
Energy production through photovoltaic or anaerobic digestion installations is also increasingly present on farms. While photovoltaic installations are relatively simple to set up (limited risk, no labour requirements), anaerobic digestion units are fully-fledged business projects requiring very substantial investment and significant labour requirements.
Be careful: diversifying your activity can have tax consequences. If your non-agricultural activity exceeds certain thresholds, you may have to legally separate these activities or become subject to Corporation Tax.
Agriculture is a specific activity carried out on an equally specific territory, which is particularly the case from a planning perspective.
Zones A thus define the agricultural zones in Local Urban Plans (PLU). In order to protect agricultural activity and prevent urban sprawl, only buildings linked to agricultural activities are permitted in these areas.
The construction of dwelling houses, industrial buildings, etc. is therefore prohibited there. Only farmers may, under certain conditions, build a dwelling house in an agricultural zone.
The Net Zero Land Take Law (Zéro Artificialisation Nette) aims to limit the consumption of agricultural land for housing and industry. It will therefore become increasingly difficult to obtain a change of use from agricultural land to building land.
Here is the chronological sequence of all the stages that will enable you to launch your farming activity:
You are the one driving the project, which will naturally evolve as your thinking progresses and as you discuss it with your partners. However, it is essential to set a clear course with the most important elements of your project.
When you start your farming activity, you must register with the Centre de Formalités des Entreprises (CFE – Business Formalities Centre).
This formality, which used to be carried out through your Chamber of Agriculture, must, since 1 January 2023, be completed online on the website https://formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, which is managed by the National Institute of Intellectual Property.
The CFE acts as a one-stop shop and allows you to declare your activity to:
There are several forms to complete, which will depend both on the legal status of your farm and on the tax regime you have chosen. Before registering with your department's CFE, you must therefore have finalised all the elements of your project.
The Structures Control is a set of regulations that issues the authorisations allowing agricultural land or off-land livestock production to be farmed.
This procedure, which takes several months, requires an application for farming authorisation to be submitted to the Departmental Directorate for Territories and the Sea (DDTM) of your department.
The DDTM examines your file and publishes a notice in order to identify any competitors to your application.
Below a departmental surface area threshold, your project may be subject to a simple declaration and then pose no difficulty.
Once the notice period has elapsed, your application is examined. In the event of competing applicants, the farming authorisation will be granted to the applicant meeting the priority criteria, determined at the level of your department.
This is therefore a crucial phase for the success of your project.
The regulations on Classified Installations for Environmental Protection (ICPE) aim to manage industrial and agricultural risks in order to protect the environment and health.
To find out whether your activity requires a procedure under the ICPE regulations, you need to consult a nomenclature that determines the activities concerned as well as the production thresholds.
There are mainly 3 regimes under the ICPE regulations:
An agricultural activity not covered by the Classified Installations regulations will nevertheless have to comply with the requirements of the Departmental Health Regulations, but without requiring any specific prior formalities.
The SAFER is a company entrusted with a public service mission, which aims to control who has the right to buy agricultural property.
As part of its mission, the SAFER has a right of pre-emption which allows it to substitute itself for a buyer named in a contract in order to acquire the property in their place and then resell it to a buyer it considers to have priority.
After the signing of a preliminary sales agreement, the notary therefore notifies the proposed sale to the SAFER, which has 2 months to notify its decision to pre-empt. No response means no pre-emption.
Since Law No. 2026-796 of 18 August 2026, this period may be suspended if the SAFER requests to inspect the property; it resumes after the inspection or after the owner's refusal, and the SAFER then has at least one month. Allow for up to 3 months of uncertainty in your schedule. The same law requires a separate notification when the sale includes both pre-emptable property and non-contiguous property that is not pre-emptable: if the farm you are buying combines a dwelling house and plots located away from the farmstead, these plots can be pre-empted on their own, without the seller being able to require the SAFER to purchase the whole. The preliminary sales agreement must then include a condition precedent linking the lots. The mechanism, its exceptions and its limitations are detailed in our article Partial SAFER pre-emption: what the 2026 law changes. For how pre-emption works in general, see What if the SAFER pre-empts?.
Note that SAFER control also applies to partial sales of shares in agricultural companies since the implementation of the Sempastous Law.
You will of course need to insure your buildings and equipment. It is also advisable to take out comprehensive business insurance that includes professional civil liability cover.
Becoming a farmer today is a profession that requires very broad skills, well beyond agricultural techniques alone. This administrative dimension of the farmer's job should not be overlooked, even if you will find service providers to support you.
The chambers of agriculture, and in particular the Point Accueil Installation, are able to direct you to the relevant services and contacts. Note that the Business Formalities Centre allows you to initiate your registrations with the main administrative services, which reduces the risk of oversights.
CROP INSURANCE
Supporting farmers towards better risk management is one of the aims of the public authorities, through the introduction of crop insurance and mutual funds.
From 1 January 2023, a universal scheme for compensating crop losses resulting from climate hazards has been put in place, with 3 levels:
Through this article and the additional resources we offer, you will have the main elements you need to build your farm purchase project.
It is a project which, in addition to technical farming skills, requires business management skills.
