Grandstand. When you shop at a large distributor, the checkout seems less painful than when you turn to small traders. However, the price displayed on the ticket, that of the current system in conventional agriculture – confirmed a few weeks ago by a common agricultural policy (CAP) renewed for the next seven years – does not represent the real cost for humans and ecosystems but actually hides a much saltier addition.
Firstly because conventional agriculture is not profitable. Farms sell their products at a loss. With farmers financed at 54% by the CAP, we have created a situation of massive dependence in which, without these subsidies, farms would not be profitable and could not survive.
The State must also constantly make up for the financial shortfall suffered by farmers due to climate crises, in particular by implementing a law aimed at in-depth reform of crop insurance and at injecting an additional 250 million euros devoted adaptation of agriculture to climate change. It’s like putting a bandage on a wooden leg!
The evils of conventional agriculture
Nothing is really being done to enable farmers to make a decent living from their profession, nor to ensure that the agricultural system does not further deteriorate ecosystems and therefore to strengthen their ability to fight against climate change. Prevention, adaptation and resilience are not the objectives of current policies, based on output and volume.
Conventional agriculture also has a hidden cost: negative externalities built into the model. Firstly, in terms of public health: certain diseases such as Parkinson’s are recognized as occupational diseases in the agricultural sector (whether because of the pace of intensive agriculture, products or pesticides).
Finally, on the environmental level. Conventional agriculture is the source of many environmental problems: green algae in Brittany; the depletion of the soil, which, during heavy rains, no longer has the capacity to absorb enough water, which leads to runoff and landslides; drop in groundwater absorption due to dry soils; the disappearance of insects, which leads to a pollination problem, among other things.
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