trying to access french agriculture site for maps of territory response is applet not initialising

If openjdk-* is installed you can report a bug and also try an alternative.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Java
http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/Java#manuelle_du_jre_et_du_plugin_de_sun

Also note their license agreement.
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/terms/license/

Since it is a french gov site they support open source and should be aware of java alternatives.
https://www3.telepac.agriculture.gouv.fr/telepac/html/public/aide/conseils.html

When opening this page
https://www3.telepac.agriculture.gouv.fr/telepac/auth/accueil.action

output from terminal:
~$ ICEDTEAPLUGIN_DEBUG= firefox
ACR (Component): component init
Running global cleanup code from study base classes.
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Initialize
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: Executing java at /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/bin/java
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: plugin_test_appletviewer: /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/bin/java
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: plugin_test_appletviewer return
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Initialize: using /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64/bin/java
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: Mutexs 0x7fc50ae3d608 and 0x7fc50ae3d5e0 initialized
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: Mutexs 0x7fc50ae3d6b8 and 0x7fc50ae3d690 initialized
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: Subscribing 0x7fc50ae451e0 to bus 0x7fc50ae3d5e0
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: Subscribing 0x7fc50adcdce0 to bus 0x7fc50ae3d690
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Initialize return
ITNPP Thread# 140484355815168: Queue processor initialized. Queue = 0x7fc50b420a20
ITNPP Thread# 140484336940800: Queue processor initialized. Queue = 0x7fc50b420a20
ITNPP Thread# 140484743788288: Queue processor initialized. Queue = 0x7fc50b420a20
NOTE: child process received `Goodbye', closing down
NOTE: child process received `Goodbye', closing down
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Shutdown
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: plugin_stop_appletviewer
java version "1.7.0_03-icedtea"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea7 2.1) (7~u3-2.1-1ubuntu3)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 22.0-b10, mixed mode)
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: plugin_stop_appletviewer return

(firefox:11756): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_source_remove: assertion `tag > 0' failed

(firefox:11756): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_source_remove: assertion `tag > 0' failed
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Shutdown: deleting output fifo: (null)
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Shutdown: deleted output fifo: (null)
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Shutdown: deleting input fifo: (null)
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Shutdown: deleted input fifo: (null)
ITNPP Thread# 140484743788288: Queue processing stopped.
ITNPP Thread# 140484336940800: Queue processing stopped.
ITNPP Thread# 140484355815168: Queue processing stopped.
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: Un-subscribing 0x7fc50ae451e0 from bus 0x7fc50ae3d5e0
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: Un-subscribing 0x7fc50adcdce0 from bus 0x7fc50ae3d690
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: PluginRequestProcessor::~PluginRequestProcessor
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: MessageBus::~MessageBus
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: MessageBus::~MessageBus
ITNPP Thread# 140485092095808: NP_Shutdown return
NOTE: child process received `Goodbye', closing down

Thanks but if you intended I put your suggestion into a terminal the
response I received was "no such file or directory.I assumed that in
order to get the output from terminal I had to enter it into a
terminal,please could you explain precisely what I should do,I have
tried installing iced tea before but without any improvement.I am on
ubuntu 11.04.,but even the latest releases seem to have this problem.

The debug cmd only works when icedtea* plugin is installed. Again, if official java tools don't work report a bug.