Paris (AFP)

"Ferme France" remains a giant in terms of production and export, but French agriculture faces many challenges, such as the renewal of generations and the maintenance of a decent income, when it is asked to take an ecological shift.

- Leading agricultural producer in the EU -

With 77.2 billion euros in 2018, France has the highest agricultural production in the European Union (EU), ahead of Italy, Germany and Spain, and weighs 18% of the total.

France has almost 15% of the agricultural area of ​​the EU. Of the 55 million hectares of metropolitan French territory, just over 28 million are occupied by agricultural activities.

After declining for several years in a row, French agri-food exports picked up in 2019n with an increase of 3.2% to 64.4 billion euros.

- Melting number of farmers -

The country loses between 1.5% and 2% of farm managers per year, and the decline is likely to accelerate because half of the farmers will retire in the next 10 years.

The number of farm managers decreased to 448,500 in 2018, a decrease of 1% over one year. In 2017, it amounted to 453,000, and in 2008 to 514,000.

The installations of new farmers fell again in 2018 (-2.8%) with the arrival of 13,925 farm managers, due to the fall in installations of people over 40 years old. They had experienced a slight increase of 1.2% in 2017 but the decrease had reached 6.2% in 2016.

- Increasing income but a population that remains fragile -

The average disposable income of farms increased slightly in 2018, 35,480 euros annually, according to the agricultural accounting information network (RICA), while it was 32,730 euros in 2017. The RICA is based on a sample of 7,220 farms representative, however, it does not take into account the number of people who must "live" on this disposable income per farm.

In addition, 22.1% of farmers lived below the poverty line in 2016, which makes it the most exposed profession, according to INSEE.

- A difficult agroecological transition -

Organic agricultural production recorded a record year in France in 2018, especially in cereals, thanks to an increase of 7.5% in organic agricultural area, i.e. two million hectares, compared to 6.5% in 2017.

However, a recent Senate report deemed the objective of 15% organic area by 2022 "out of reach", the text pinpointing the action carried out by the State to support the development of organic farming as well as financial support deemed insufficient.

We also learned in January that the consumption of phytosanitary products in agriculture had increased by 21% in France in 2018, according to an assessment of the Ecophyto 2 Plan, whose objective was to reduce the consumption of pesticides by 50% by 2025.

The decision to set up no-treatment zones around the dwellings since January has caused great dissatisfaction with the farmers. The FNSEA is asking for "ambitious support measures" so that farmers are able to take the turn of the ecological transition while maintaining their competitiveness.

Sources: Agence Bio, Agreste, Eurostat, Insee, MSA

© 2020 AFP