Soaring cereal and fertilizer prices, risk of shortages… The invasion of Ukraine had immediate effects on the daily lives of farmers in the Ile-de-France region.
Christophe Hillairet, president of the Île-de-France Chamber of Agriculture, explains the issues to us.
“Today, there is a real risk of shortages, the market is very tight”, advances Christophe Hillairet, president of the Île-de-France chamber of agriculture, here in June 2019. LP / PAULINE DARVEY
Is agricultural production already changing because of the war in Ukraine?
CHRISTOPHE HILLAIRET.
Clearly we see a few more farmers planting sunflowers this year.
But for the rest, it's too early.
Farmers define their rotation
(cultivation process by succession and alternation on the same land to preserve soil fertility)
in September.
The invasion of Ukraine began at the end of February.
The European decision to relax the set-aside rate within the framework of the CAP was in March.
The year had already begun for us.
And farmers today are a little lost between different injunctions.
We do not understand anything.
On the one hand, there is a demand from society for a more environmentally virtuous practice.
We know how to do it but there will be less productivity.
On the other hand, we are asked to produce more.
In terms of food, we are faced with a huge challenge.
What are the immediate effects of this crisis on the daily lives of Ile-de-France farmers?
There is a price spike in the commodity market.
We see this especially with fertilizers.
The prices have been multiplied at least by four, it's considerable.
For example, I just bought fertilizer
at 830 euros per ton whereas it was at 180 euros last year.
Before, these products were manufactured in France, but from AZF
(on September 21, 2001, the worst industrial accident of the post-war period occurred in the AZF nitrogen fertilizer production plant, located a few kilometers from the center of Toulouse)
and the tightening of the rules, there are only two or three factories left in the country.
Everything is now imported from Belarus and Russia.
Today, there is a real risk of shortages, the market is very tight.
But without fertilizer, our yields will decrease.
Read alsoSunflower cultivation is back in Île-de-France: “The war in Ukraine has changed the way farmers look”
On the other hand, crops should be sold at a higher price...
Cereal prices have skyrocketed.
It doubled for certain products
(wheat went from 180 euros per ton to around 400 euros and rapeseed from 450 euros to 1000 euros per ton).
But I don't think that the farmers will get a better result because this increase will be sucked up by that of the cost of production.
Should Ile-de-France agriculture be transformed to export less and focus on the local market?
This is the real subject to come, that of food sovereignty.
But there is a geopolitical dimension to take into account.
We, in France, will always be able to feed our populations.
We do not realize how much we have a territory blessed by the gods on the climatic level.
But others, like Tunisia for example, are unable to produce enough for their inhabitants.
Should we starve them?
Our exports contribute to a global balance, and the consequences must be measured.
Don't we have a responsibility?
Human values do not stop at the borders of France.