In case you needed proof that Chirac is an idiot

[chickenfeet]

The president [Chirac], chatting to the German and Russian leaders in a Russian cafe, said: "The only thing [the British] have ever given European farming is mad cow."

Umm...

The seed drill
Modern crop rotations
Fodder crops
Over wintering of livestock
Scientific breeding
Reclamation of marshland
Marling
Nitrogen based fertilizers

Most of these while Chirac's ancestors were trying to squeeze the blood out of peasants whose methods hadn't improved much since the days of Charlemagne. Arguably they still haven't.

So what have the French contributed to European agriculture apart from an unprecedented ability to consume subidies?