Logos of the French agricultural unions FNSEA and Young Farmers, photographed during a press conference in Paris, February 13, 2024 (AFP/GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT)
The president of the majority agricultural union FNSEA, who wants the State to tackle “big issues”, calls for acceleration on the issue of water storage and “fiscal measures” allowing farms to be modernized and transferred, in an interview with Les Echos published Tuesday.
Arnaud Rousseau, who, like his Young Farmers (JA) counterpart Arnaud Gaillot, has a meeting in the morning with Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, outlines in this interview priorities for a way out of the crisis.
Recalling that Emmanuel Macron had made “upgrading a priority” in 2017, Mr. Rousseau is now waiting to see if the president “wants to set a new collective ambition for us”.
Calling on the executive to “tackle the big issues”, he first raised the issue of water storage. After the abundant rains of winter, “nothing says that in four months, we will not have a drought (…). We must start by making our administration and our procedures much more efficient. This can involve orders or regulations, and therefore move quickly,” he says.
“In Vienne, farmers have been trying for twelve years to move forward with a storage file, with a permit purged of any appeal. Waiting that long is not acceptable,” he believes.
Mr. Rousseau also calls for “a fiscal incentive measure which could push some to transfer sooner and accelerate the modernization of our agriculture”. “Of the 400,000 farms in France, at least 150,000 are affected by retirement within five to seven years,” he recalls.
– “Ensuring income and dignity” –
“Facilitating the arrival of seasonal workers in our sector, which is recognized as a profession in tension, is good. But we could also be granted a reduction in the tax on undeveloped land. We already benefit from a reduction of up to 20%. We would like it to rise to 50%. This would cost around 150 million to public finances,” he explains.
Mr. Rousseau calls for “structural measures to restore the desire to undertake farming by ensuring income and dignity”.
He mentions, for example, the expansion of livestock farms, to go from “70 to 75 cows on average today to perhaps 100 or 120”, making it possible to hire an employee, or to develop oil production. of olives in the southern wine-growing regions hit by drought.
The president of the JA, for his part, recognized progress which is going “in the right direction”, but deplores the slow deployment of the measures obtained from the government during the mobilization of the agricultural world since January.
“When you are the elected politician, it is you who command your different ministries. And therefore you have to shake the coconut tree morning, noon and evening,” pleaded Mr. Gaillot Tuesday morning on RTL.
Asked about the continuation of sporadic demonstrations in France despite the important pledges given by the government, the president of the JA explained that faced with farmers who have been “suffering” for years a loss of competitiveness combined with climatic hazards, “it is complicated”.
© 2024 AFP
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