Taxes, synthetic meat, “vegetable steak”: what does the government’s livestock plan contain?

The government is working to respond to the discontent of breeders. This Sunday, February 25, the executive presented his “grand plan” for livestock farming, on the sidelines of the Agricultural Show, whose inauguration was interrupted by clashes around the arrival of Emmanuel Macron. This support plan for livestock farming was highly anticipated by the unions, who point to the drop in the number of farms, the insufficient remuneration of ranchers or the obstacles to the transfer of farms.

Some of the measures are not new, but the government is committed to “accelerating their implementation.” It includes an allocation of 150 million euros for new tax and social benefits for livestock farmers, the deployment of an offer of 400 million euros in loans guaranteed by the State starting in July or even annual support of 30 million euros for investments in agricultural equipment that helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, the decree that protects “the names used to designate food products of animal origin” – more specifically, to prohibit terms such as “vegetable steak” or “vegan ham” – will be published “before the end of February”, assures the Department of agriculture. , responding to a long-standing demand from actors in the livestock and butchery-deli sector. A first decree, published in June 2022, was suspended in a summary procedure by the Council of State.

“Assumed and credible” policy

Beyond these financial measures, the government intends to defend an “accepted and credible” policy in favor of livestock farming. “Meat consumption should not be stigmatized” and “reduce the size of our breeding herd in France […] “It cannot constitute a public policy objective,” says the Ministry of Agriculture. With the objective of “producing what we consume”, or even more for certain products also destined for export. The executive recalls that other countries want to ban synthetic meat at the European level.

And also a question of image: for example, a communication campaign valued at 3 million euros will be launched to promote agricultural professions. Likewise, “communication supports that explain the positive contributions of genetic improvement” will be proposed to provide “counterarguments to erroneous information.”