“Organic farming is a subject that is close to our hearts”, made a preamble to Marc Fesneau, Wednesday February 28, at the Salon de l’agriculture, during a public presentation of the government’s “renewed ambition” for organic, according to the title of the program. The Minister of Agriculture recognized that after years of uninterrupted growth, whether in terms of the number of farms or in terms of useful agricultural areas (UAA) converted to agriculture without synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, the sudden slowdown consumption had plunged the sector into a deep crisis for more than two years. He even conceded that there was a risk of organic farmers deconverting in 2024.
The minister recalled that the government had ended up releasing 104 million euros in 2023. The first trigger had occurred during the previous Agricultural Show, when the then Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, had granted an initial envelope of 10 million euros, after long delays. Then, over the months, the amount increased somewhat. In January, faced with the anger of farmers, his newly appointed successor at Matignon, Gabriel Attal, had promised 50 million euros, an amount included in the list of emergency aid to the various sectors.
Mr. Fesneau announced the addition of 40 million euros, bringing emergency aid to the organic sector to 90 million euros for 2024. The objective is to examine the files after obtaining approval. green of Brussels and to pay the subsidies before the end of June. The government has agreed to modify the award criteria. In 2023, you had to have a 20% drop in turnover and a decline of the same order in gross operating surplus to be eligible. “ Only 4,300 farms were helped », Underlines Philippe Camburet, president of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture.
“Drawer bottom scraping”
This time, it is enough that one of the two criteria is met to qualify for this support, the minimum amount of which is set at 1,000 euros and is capped at 30,000 euros, or even 40,000 for young people established. Winegrowers who already have access to their sector’s emergency fund are excluded from the system. However, the ministry specifies that a budgetary stabilizer could be applied if the requests submitted exceed the envelope. “ This bottom-line scraping will not be enough when 80% of the 60,000 organic farms are affected, of which 20% to 30% must be supported”, reacts Mr. Camburet.
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