The Assizes of organic agriculture and food which took place Tuesday in Paris. The Minister responded to certain requests, while France has been criticized several times so as not to put means up to its ambitions.
by Laurence Girard
“It’s not yet Christmas, but almost Saint-Nicolas,” reacted Laure Verdeau, president of the organic agency, at the end of the Assises of Agriculture and Biological Food which took place on Tuesday December 6 in Paris. A meeting that had opened up to a speech by the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau. He knew himself much awaited at a time when organic farming is going through a period of crisis. If he responded to certain requests, state support remains at least for this environmentally friendly agricultural sector.
Concretely, he agreed to consolidate the means made available to the organic agency, a public structure in charge of the animation of the organic ecosystem. He chose to abound in particular the Avenir Bio fund intended to subsidize sector structuring projects. It should benefit from an additional 5 million euros within the framework of the 2023 finance bill, to regain its level from 2022 to 13 million euros. This fund will also recover 2 million euros from the reliquat of the recovery plan directly enclosed towards the pig sector.
m. Fesneau then discussed studies funding for a market diagnosis of 150,000 euros and announced in the process that it shifted by one year the launch of the 2027 organic ambition plan. The current one launched in 2018 S ‘finished at the end of 2022. Finally, the minister chose to put 750,000 euros on the table to support a communication campaign. Knowing that the government had released a year ago 500,000 euros ago while organic players, faced with the brutal stop of market growth, had sounded alarm.
A positive signal, but clearly insufficient for Philippe Camburet, president of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture (FNAB). “The economic situation deserves more ambitious position of the State for organic farming. We wanted the Minister to implement direct supports for producers forced to sell part of their production in conventional, thus losing added value “He regrets. Especially since “the government has dropped hundreds of millions of euros this year for sectors that have always known vagaries,” he adds. Online in sight, the aid plan of 270 million euros unlocked in February to help the prosecution sector financially strangled.
Already at the end of June, the Court of Auditors, which looked at the situation of organic farming in France, had made a verdict without appeal: the state support policy is not up to the task of the ambition displayed by the public authorities.
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