Climate disasters: Emmanuel Macron promises 600 million euros per year to farmers

Europe 1 with AFP 9:57 p.m., September 10, 2021

It was a gesture eagerly awaited by farmers.

Emmanuel Macron announced on Friday that the government would provide 600 million euros per year to compensate farmers who are victims of climatic disasters and help them insure against average risks.

"You are the first to be affected by climate change"

"You are the first to be affected by climate change," said the President of the Republic in front of young farmers, stressing that "these events such as frost and floods are becoming recurrent".

"We want to create a French crop insurance system to have the fastest possible response when we are affected by an agricultural calamity", he said, on the occasion of a visit to the agricultural fair "Terres de Jim ", annual gathering of Young Farmers, in Corbières-en-Provence.

Less than 30% of farmers insured against climatic disasters

These funds will finance the national solidarity system for the most serious losses, such as those linked to the frost this spring, as well as partially subsidize insurance for medium risks.

Currently, less than 30% of farmers are insured against climatic hazards, with large differences depending on the sector.

The vice-president of the Young Farmers union, Basile Faucheux, who met Emmanuel Macron on Friday, congratulated himself on RTL on this announcement that his union and the profession demanded for years, "Phew ... We were a little ahead a wall and a solution was needed ".

However, he stressed that being reimbursed was not enough and that it was necessary to act upstream to help farmers protect themselves against climatic disasters.

A major move seven months before the presidential election

Emmanuel Macron also pledged to have the Egalim 2 law adopted, before the trade negotiations this winter, which attempts to ensure that the cost of production is taken into account in the price paid to producers.

The first Egalim law failed to achieve this goal. 

The Head of State has chosen to address farmers as part of a series of thematic trips seven months before the presidential election.

Previously, he had spent an hour surveying the fair, in a fine rain that turned the area into a field of mud.

It received a good reception from the public who came for this festive event, which wants to introduce the general public behind the scenes of agriculture.

Some 100,000 visitors are expected this year.