World Water Day: "Let's not make scapegoats of farmers"

This March 22, World Water Day, we, representatives of the agricultural and agri-food world, must share with you our concern about the availability of water, the tensions that are rising in the territories.

And our strong desire to work with the various players on this subject.

Record temperatures last summer, historic winter drought, confrontations on the ground, questions about our food sovereignty… All the ingredients are there for the year 2023 to be explosive, and for a real water war to be declared.

We consider that the water war should not take place.

We are convinced that the different uses and that the users of water should not oppose each other, that no ideology should blind us and that dialogue should always be sought.

However, we have no doubt that the situation is likely to become more and more difficult, that in certain French territories access to water is no longer guaranteed, while in other periods, it is the excess of water that causes damage.

As in any crisis, some would like to point out the culprits and the agricultural world could appear as an ideal scapegoat.

Denying farmers the means to irrigate, in particular through the creation of storage, is an aberration.

The petitioners

There are rarely simple solutions to a complex problem and water is no exception.

In France, agriculture accounts for around 9% of water withdrawals, according to a file in the INRAE ​​review “L’agriculture va-elle dire d’eau?”, published in June 2022. It is undeniable that agriculture consumes water.

But a large majority of the volumes withdrawn are returned to the environment, either via absorption by the soil, and via evapotranspiration by plants in the atmosphere.

The rest of the water is used by plants and contained in the fruits, vegetables and cereals we eat.

Because we forget, eating is also drinking!

According to the CNRS, 40% of our water needs are provided by food.

But it would still be too much for some, convinced that to solve everything, just change the model.

Yet everywhere in France, farmers, whether they have chosen conventional, organic or soil conservation agriculture, agree that they cannot produce without irrigation.

No one disputes the need to change current practices, it is even a necessity in the face of climate change.

But refusing farmers the means to irrigate, in particular through the creation of storage, is an aberration.

Read alsoDrought: will we run out of water this summer?

Storing water when it is available, to use it when it is lacking is not a matter of agricultural model, and it becomes a necessity to simply continue to produce our food, here, locally in France.

It is not a question of privatizing a common heritage but of guaranteeing our food sovereignty.

Water storage does not prevent agricultural practices from changing, on the contrary, it facilitates transitions.

Those who use opposition to storage projects as a threat to farmers to force them to “change the agricultural model” are in the wrong fight.

Many local and national elected officials have made this observation their own, and we will support them in the proposals that they will have to defend in the various decision-making bodies.

We did not wait for Water Day to take action in our agricultural businesses and cooperatives, at the heart of the territories.

The petitioners

Placing the creation of water reservoirs as the last solution when all the others have been explored is not reasonable.

We must deploy all the solutions now to respond to the climate emergency:

- Water storage but also,

- Upstream agriculture: varietal selection for more drought-tolerant seeds, agronomic innovation to improve the useful water reserve in the soil, precise control of irrigation with digital agriculture and other agronomic developments to be improved, reuse Wastewater… ;

And

- At the level of agri-food processing: efficiency of water use, reuse of water in agri-food industries, etc.

We did not wait for Water Day to take action in our agricultural businesses and cooperatives, at the heart of the territories.

We are able to offer innovative and societal solutions to this major collective challenge.

This is why we will carefully analyze future government statements.

Let's not sacrifice farmers, agriculture and our French agri-food sectors on the altar of climate change, but work together for better management of water resources.

It is in the future of all of us to truly begin to defend our food sovereignty and the economic vitality of our rural territories.

The petitioners :

FNSEA, Young Farmers, Agricultural Cooperation, Agricultures & Territories, Irrigators of France.