“This sector, like others, is going through a crisis and it is not a matter of letting it fall and abandoning the goal of making 18% of French agricultural land organic by 2027,” the minister told AFP, on the occasion of the Conference on organic farming and food.
Before the players in the sector, he announced the payment in 2023 of an additional 5 million euros to the Fonds Avenir Bio, whose “criteria will change in order to finance more projects”, and a state participation of up to 750,000 euros to Agence Bio for the deployment of a new communication campaign.
The additional resources allocated to the Bio Agency intend to start studies at the end of the year to have “a more detailed knowledge of the crisis, and in particular the reasons for the reduction in demand”, and to reflect on the ecological consumption scenarios by 2040 , indicated Mr. Fesneau.
public orders
“The increase in demand for organic products also goes through public orders. Today, we are at 6% of organic orders in collective catering. We have work to do with the local authorities”, in particular to increase the share of organic food in canteens. said Mr. Fesneau.
With the 5 million euros announced by the minister, the Fonds Avenir Bio, managed by Agence Bio and intended to help producers invest and boost their productions, will be endowed with a total of 13 million euros, to which add up to “2 million euros remain”. of the recovery plan.
These additional funds should make it possible to start a reflection on the structuring of the sectors, such as the organic pig sector which is currently going through a particularly acute demand crisis.
Agence Bio was pleased with the strengthening of its resources, while highlighting the magnitude of the task. “Let us be proud of the progress made, but let us recognize that there is still a long way to go to sustainably transform the French agricultural and agri-food model. The organic is in the middle of the ford”, stressed its president Loïc Guines, in a press release. .
10.3% of agricultural land is organic
For his part, the president of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture (Fnab), Philippe Camburet, regretted that the minister had announced “no direct aid to producers.”
“All this money, which will serve to communicate about the sector, will not help farmers in distress. It is the first time we have faced a crisis of this type and it is the first time we have asked for direct help.” as is the case with other sectors,” he told AFP, referring in particular to the massive state support for the conventional pig sector, which is structurally in deficit.
After ten years of double-digit growth, the organic market is being hit hard by inflation, with consumers turning to cheaper alternative products.
According to the specialist in consumer data analysis IRI, the turnover of organic products will decrease for the second consecutive year. At the end of October 2022, the drop in sales in one year amounted to almost 5%.
Currently, France has 56,000 organic farms, for 10.3% of the useful agricultural area.
Source: BFM TV
