Too much organic milk production weakens the sector

“Organic farmers, on a daily basis, demonstrate that another model is possible. They give us hope ”, Nicolas Hulot launched, at the opening of the World Organic Congress, which took place from Monday 6 to Friday 10 September in Rennes, and for which he had accepted the sponsorship.

By matching calendars, this gathering of actors involved in more environmentally friendly agriculture echoed the World Congress of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, in Marseille. The decline in biodiversity and the climate crisis were at the heart of the debates in Marseille. Agriculture is a hotspot in the ecological crisis. It can be the cause, the solution, but also the victim. Here, we turned to the solution ”, Mr. Hulot added.

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In France, the ranks of farmers wishing to do without synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are constantly growing. According to Agence Bio, the number of organic farms increased by 13% in 2020, reaching 53,483. The movement continued in the first half of 2021.

A strong dynamism, in spite of courses often strewn with pitfalls. In 2021, organic milk producers are having a hard time. The udder of the cows was generous, and the suppliers more numerous, even as the consumption of dairy products stamped with the small leaf marked a pause. Result: an overflow has thrown the market off balance.

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“You have to understand that the organic sector is being built in stages. With successive waves of conversion of farmers. At the same time, the consumption of organic products was growing at a rate of 15% to 20% per year. However, this year it has stabilized “, explains Emmanuel Vasseneix, boss of the food company LSDH. “In the first half of 2021, organic milk production increased by 11%, with peaks of 16% and 17% in May and June, helped by a strong growth of grass in the meadows”, specifies Benoît Rouyer, director of economic forecasting at the National Interprofessional Center for the Dairy Economy.

Price wars in supermarkets

This is not the first growth crisis that the organic dairy sector is going through, but the volumes today are larger and therefore management is more delicate. “, underlines Ivan Sachet, leader of the Seine et Loire Producers Organization, which figures the total volume of organic milk at 1.1 billion liters in 2020. Faced with the difficulty of selling the volumes, the surplus has been downgraded, and sometimes sold as conventional non-GMO milk. The key: a drop in price.

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