Franche-Comté agriculture occupies 731 220 hectares, or 45% of the region’s surface area. Permanent grasslands account for 460 000 hectares and arable land totals 302 000 hectares. The climate and the topography of the region naturally incline it towards cattle-rearing (612 980 head in 2009) and three quarters of the 9 870 farms are devoted to dairy farming, principally on the plateaus and the high slopes of the Jura massif. The cattle-rearing to produce beef is proportionally larger in the Territoire de Belfort and the Haute-Saône. Predominant in the Doubs department, the pig population totals 113 920 head (including 48 500 porkers of over 50 kg and 31 300 piglets). The sheep population (72 750 head) is mostly concentrated in the Haute-Saône department. Horse breeding accounts for 17 410 animals, including 11 040 saddle horses and 5 540 draught horses. Known for its sturdiness, the Franche-Comté horse is the leading draught breed in France. This breed had almost disappeared before it was rescued by a handful of devoted breeders at the beginning of the 20th century.

Because of the size of its dairy herd, Franche-Comté is quite naturally geared to cheese production with 80% of the milk collection (10 million hectolitres/year) coming for the most part from the Montbeliard breed and the remainder from the French Simmental breed. The region represents 17% of French dairies and half the producers fall under the AOC sector (controlled origin certification).
With 52 000 tons produced mainly by 170 cooperative cheese dairies, Comté cheese (AOC 1958) absorbs half of this dairy production. This pressed cheese made from unpasteurized milk is creamy and smooth, with a hazelnut flavour (matured for four and twenty-four months), and a whole cheese of 40 kg requires 450 litres of milk. The production of Morbier cheese (AOC 2000, AOP 2002) totals 9 000 tons. This pressed uncooked cheese made from unpasteurized milk is distinguished by its dark stripe of carbon vegetable in the centre. Gex is an uncooked blue cheese from the Haut-Jura (AOC 1977) or Septmoncel (whole cheese of 7 kg) made with unpasteurized milk (the only blue cheese in Franche-Comté), with a total production of around 600 tons. Matured for three weeks in cellars,

The Franche-Comté wine-growing area, one of the oldest in France, planted by the Romans, represents 2 480 hectares (with 1 650 hectares under AOC) located for the most part in the Jura department, on marly schist. Although one of the smallest wine-growing area in France, it is also one of the most original by its diversity and the specificity of certain wine-growing techniques. The Arbois vineyards are the largest with 800 hectares and the first to earn AOC certification in 1936. The region produces five grape varieties (Savagnin and Chardonnay for the white wines and Pinot Noir, Poulsard and Trousseau for the red wines), four geographical classifications (Arbois, Côte du Jura, Etoile, Château Chalon) and two classified products (Macvin, Crémant du Jura). In 2009, the production totalled 58 650 hectolitres of white wine and 30 000 hectolitres of red wine.
The very well-known, heady Vin Jaune is made from one grape variety (Savagnin) and aged in oak barrels for six years and three months (walnut and hazelnut aromas). Château-Chalon (50 hectares, AOC 1958) is the birthplace and the great wine of Vin Jaune. It is sold in a 0.62-litre bottle called a “clavelin”.

Cooked meat products hold price of place among the specialties from Franche-Comté. The Morteau sausage IGP (20 cm, 4 cm diameter, 350 g) is made from the meat (shoulder, loin, ham) of a pig fed on whey that is then coarsely chopped and kneaded before being stuffed into a natural casing sealed by a wooden peg at one end. It is then smoked for 48 hours with resinous wood in a large chimney stack known as a “tuyé”. Morteau Label Rouge sausage (also IGP certified) is made with Franche-Comté Label Rouge pork that is also whey-fed. The Montbéliard sausage (15 cm long, 3.5 cm diameter, 150 g) is made from pork flavoured with caraway or cumin,

The pastry and bread specialties include gingerbread from Dôle and Besançon, a custard tart called “tarte au goumeau”, the “galette comtoise” (choux pastry with orange flower), the Montbozon biscuit and sugared almonds from Besançon. Like the region, Franche-Comté cooking is authentic and diversified and innovative too, reinterpreted by talented young chefs. The typical dishes include coq au vin jaune, fattened hen with morels, chicken à la comtoise), Jura cheese fondue, Mont d’Or hot cheese, a sausage and potato casserole called morbiflette, puff pastries with Comté cheese, a thick cheese pancake called michon, raclette and fondue, a fish and white wine dish called pochouse, and trout with vin jaune.