The encroachment of fertile farmland by urban sprawl is unsustainable for the city itself in terms of collective costs but also for the farmers who struggle to cope with or adapt to land fragmentation and urban proximity. A variety of policy instruments have been developed and tested to protect farmland, including the public acquisition of land, regulatory approaches and incentive-based approaches. In France, farmland conversion has been regulated mainly by municipal authorities through binding zoning plans based on density, morphology and urban-rural dichotomy of the territory. However, this comprehensive land-use planning approach proved to be inadequate and agricultural land continues to decline on the urban fringe. In this context, our contribution will present the actors and institutions involved in farmland management and protection on the urban fringe in France and some innovations regarding governance modes and instruments, focusing on institutional barriers and spatial impacts. In particular, we will discuss new modes of land management that are currently implemented at a local level: public authorities try to better integrate farmers’ needs into spatial planning and they look for new instruments; civil society groups involve in farmland protection through charity foundations that invest in land and lend it to farmers for free. Scientific research may contribute to articulate these various local initiatives into a more integrative approach of farmland management on the urban fringe.