The Young Farmers’ Union asked Thursday for better support from the State for the transmission of farms, “blind spot of agricultural policies”, in its contribution to the consultation on the future law of orientation and future (LOA) agricultural .
The Minister of Agriculture said Thursday that this national consultation, launched in early December, would last until May with a view to achieving a pact in June and then a bill.
Ally and incubator of the majority FNSEA union, the Young Farmers’ Union has compiled its main guidelines in a document.
We are facing an unprecedented agricultural demographic crisis, since it is a question of replacing nearly 200,000 farmers within five years, half of us soon to be retiring, underlines its president, Arnaud Gaillot, in preamble to this document.
Half of French farms are run by at least one farmer aged 55 or over, who has already reached or will reach retirement age in the coming decade, according to the latest agricultural census. And among those over 60, two-thirds have not looked for or identified a buyer.
Attracting young people, or people in retraining, training them, supporting them in their installation or takeover project is therefore an emergency if we want to preserve our land and our food sovereignty, says Arnaud Gaillot.
Unfortunately, support for the transmission of young farms is the blind spot of agricultural policies, deplores the union, for which the sellers need help and encouragement in the face of structural obstacles.
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The organization proposes to anticipate with them the takeover of their farm by a young person, to carry out an economic, human and environmental diagnosis on these farms, and to create a tax and social incentive system, via for example a tax credit.
The takeover of a farm is the best time to make changes, also defends the union, which sees it as a powerful lever for the agroecological transition by focusing on youth.
We will not do better by taking steps back, by returning to models that have already led us to disaster, he warns, proposing to invest more than ever in research and development.