Help needed, as global warming intensifies. The government will allow the opening of the compensation scheme for "calamities" to farmers and breeders victims of drought who should also benefit from other emergency cash aid such as certain tax reductions, the Minister of Justice announced on Friday. 'Agriculture, Julien Denormandie.
"We are taking exceptional measures to support farmers in the face of repeated episodes of drought," said on France Bleu the minister, who also confirmed that a "significant part" of the agricultural component of the recovery plan of the economy to be announced on August 25 will be devoted to “adapting our cultures to climate change”.
🗞 “The drought is once again having a strong impact on our agriculture. Beyond emergency measures, we will devote significant resources from the recovery plan to adapting our agriculture to climate change ”https://t.co/vAkcVnX6oW
- Julien Denormandie (@J_Denormandie) August 14, 2020"For all the departments which may be subject to the agricultural calamity", the minister indicated that he would be "very vigilant" so that the farmers concerned can benefit from it.
Reductions in charges and required staggering
"When is this happening? At the end of the drought episode, we see the consequences of reduced yields and we make these declarations […] which then give rise to financial support, ”said the Minister without giving the amount of the budget.
In emergency measures, in addition to the green light for the use of fallows to feed livestock and the shift in sowing dates imposed by the common agricultural policy (CAP), already announced, the minister mentioned the advance payment of CAP “higher” down payments, and “land tax relief paid by farmers” for the worst-hit regions.
Earlier this week, the president of the agricultural union Modef Pierre Thomas asked for the activation of the national agricultural risk management fund (FNGRA) to compensate farmers exposed to drought damage. The president of the FNSEA Christiane Lambert had also asked for reductions in charges or even staggered bank repayments for agricultural companies.
Visiting Haute-Garonne
“Beyond these very short-term agronomic and financial measures, it is above all necessary to prepare for the future, this is the objective of the recovery plan where a substantial part of the agricultural component of the recovery plan will be devoted to adaptation of our agriculture to the effects of climate change ”, added the Minister. In this regard, he cited three examples: financing the purchase of protective materials against hail, financing research to find seeds more suited to climate change, and improving resource management, in particular in water.
"After the drought, there are very violent storms, hail: today, we have materials to protect against these phenomena, which are expensive, we must be able to finance them to support our farmers", added the Minister who is visiting two farms in Haute-Garonne this Friday.
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For water management, Julien Denormandie judged "absolutely not normal" that a water retention basin construction project could "take 8 to 10 years" and referred to "simplification measures" to be undertaken "in consultation ”in order to avoid“ conflicts of use ”.