Estimating socioeconomic impacts of the horse sector: an initial approach through the jobs linked to breeding farms: an estimation of direct job creation

The objective of the research is to clarify whether the proposed methodologies for other animal sectors can be applied to the different segments of the equine sector and under what conditions of adjustment and/or adaptation can they be applied in order to better understand the jobs in this sector, especially direct jobs. To take into account the specificities of this agricultural sector (in particular the provision of services for non-agricultural actors in the equine sector as well as the fact thatthis sector is often secondary to the main orientation of the farms ), the project relies on both the national foundations and criteria specific to the sector to calculate all the direct jobs and on the agricultural bases and methodologies developed in the agricultural field to specify its impact at the agricultural level. The objective is then to establish a methodology that is both reliable (being based on solid theoretical references) and reproducible (as it relies on short, medium and long-term statistical data), in order to not only compare the different segments of the sector between them, but also to compare them with other activities (herbivorous livestock production, outdoor activities, etc.), even the same activities in other countries where these methods were applied. However, the available information on structures holding equine falls into two different bases. For equine on farms, information is collected as part of the agricultural census. For other structures with equine, it's collected on a national basis managed by IFCE and fed by professional organizations. From this last database, called Social and Economic Observatory of the Horse (OESC), statistics specific to the sector are published, but these elements do not allow the comparison with other animal productions, especially as it is estimated that only 50% of the equine workforce is in agricultural structures. Also, this work should make it possible to better situate the equine productions and activities in the agricultural field by specifying the jobs created by their presence within the farms, to follow the structures which develop them on the last 2 censuses and thus to have a tool to estimate the evolution of the sector at the national level at least for the productions and activities represented in the agricultural world.