(Wine-Searcher) - France's wine industry is getting an injection of fresh ideas as more people are helped into the industry.

Safer, the organization that controls agricultural land sales in France, has announced that of the 240 vineyard sales they are involved with on average each year, two-thirds are purchased by newcomers to the wine world.

"Fifty years ago, barely 3 percent of farms were taken on by anyone not born onto that farm, but today that figure is 30 percent and viticulture is no exception," said Pierre Pouget, director of Safer's Aquitaine-Atlantique branch.

Safer's president Emmanuel Hyest believes it's a good thing.

"If we only rely on the children to take over their parents' property, things won't move on. Now we see people coming into the business to fulfill a dream and good for them, because you have to be motivated to keep going."

There are 70,000 grapegrowers in France, 28 percent less than in 2000. According to agricultural insurance company MSA, the number of grapegrowers decreased by 20 percent between 2007 and 2011. But the decline is much greater in other farming activities.

Vineyard land can be very expensive and vineyards take time to establish. Not only is it a difficult job, but results are uncertain and it doesn't take much to rock the boat. MSA says that after five years, a quarter of newly established grapegrowers have thrown in the towel.

New types of financing deals are helping growers to get established and those deals can "respond to the needs of people who could not have done this on their own," said Hyest. For example, Safer can buy a vineyard plot and rent it back to the grapegrower for the first five years, keeping the rental payments back to be used as an initial bank deposit.