The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, announced on Tuesday additional financial means for the Agence Bio, responsible for the development, promotion and structuring of French organic farming, a sector "
challenged
" by inflation and a drop in demand.
"
This sector, like others, is going through a crisis and there is no question of dropping it and abandoning the objective of 18% of the French agricultural area being organic by 2027
," he told AFP. the Minister, on the occasion of the conference on organic agriculture and food.
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In front of the players in the sector, he announced the payment in 2023 of an additional 5 million euros to the Fonds Avenir Bio, whose "
criteria will evolve in order to be able to finance more projects
", and a participation of the State up to 750,000 euros to Agence Bio for the deployment of a new communication campaign.
The additional resources allocated to the Agence bio aim to undertake studies by the end of the year to have "
a more detailed understanding of the crisis, and in particular the reasons for the reduction in demand
», and to reflect on the scenarios of organic consumption by 2040, indicated Mr. Fesneau.
With the 5 million euros announced by the Minister, the Fonds Avenir Bio, managed by the Agence Bio and intended to help producers invest and enhance their productions, will be endowed with a total of 13 million euros, to which add "
2 million euros left over from the recovery plan
".
These additional funds should make it possible to initiate a reflection on the structuring of the sectors, such as the organic pork sector which is currently undergoing a particularly acute crisis in demand.
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After ten years of double-digit growth, the organic market is being hit hard by inflation, with consumers falling back on alternative, cheaper products.
According to consumer data analysis specialist IRI, sales of organic products will decline for the second consecutive year, after years of strong growth.
At the end of October 2022, the drop in sales over one year amounted to nearly 5%.
Currently, France has 56,000 organic farms, for 10.3% of the useful agricultural area.
