Emmanuel Macron’s declaration on the creation of floor prices to better remunerate farmers has sparked intense reactions in the agricultural world. Since this surprise proposal put forward on Saturday February 24, first in front of journalists, then in front of a few farmers invited to a mini-debate, in a context of unprecedented tension for an inauguration day of the Agricultural Show, the subject has been at the heart of the debates in the aisles.
Bruno Le Maire took it up on Monday, February 26, and tried to exegesis it during a meeting on agricultural competitiveness, bringing together representatives of the sectors and elected officials. “ The President of the Republic has taken a strong position on this subject. (…) He wanted to say something powerful: producers must have the guarantee that, whatever the circumstances, they will be fairly remunerated »did he declare.
Before adding: “I propose that we work together on this floor price, in particular by working on price indicators, sector by sector, because obviously things will be very different. So that we can look at how the price is constructed and so that at the end of the day, the producer can get the remuneration to which he is entitled. »
For the EGalim4 law
At the end of the meeting, he once again defended the presidential proposal, specifying: “The floor price is not a unified price. I don’t see why the agricultural world would be the only one selling at a loss. It is unfair morally and economically inefficient. »
The Minister of the Economy wishes to include this system in the new version of the EGalim law, called EGalim4. This text, supposed to better distribute value within the food chain, should be amended to make an agreement between industrialist and producer essential before any negotiation with large retailers. It should also expand to sectors other than distribution.
The Confédération Paysanne union welcomed the mention of the floor price by Mr. Macron, considered as ” breakthrough “. The agricultural union had made it one of its key demands to ensure farmers’ income. The Movement for the Defense of Family Farmers also urged this system in the face of the distress of wine growers in the south of France, forced to sell their wines well below their production costs.
The National Federation of Farmers’ Unions is more circumspect, fearing that it will become a market price. It is true that in its ranks, certain sectors do not want to hear about it, like the cereal sector. “We will have to explain to us what this floor price is. Either it’s a publicity stunt and it’s clumsy, or it’s in the EGalim law, but this mechanism does not apply to the cereal sector which has asked to be exempted from it”, reacts Eric Thirouin, president of the General Association of Wheat Producers. Cereal producers are part of a liberalized market where prices are set on markets such as Euronext, for Europe.
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