We must put an end to hyper-specialization in agriculture. This was explained by Marc Dufumier, agronomist and honorary professor at AgroParisTech on Europe 1, on Sunday. He considers that this choice has led to an ecological and economic crisis for farmers and that it is in this sense that the sector must renew and modernize.
An economic crisis...
"The great mistake of this industrial agriculture which is not very competitive on the world markets, it is to have too specialized, to have separated agriculture and livestock and reduced the duration of the rotations, the diversity of the rotations", judge Marc Dufumier. Thus, according to him, "the modern agriculture of tomorrow will have to considerably innovate and diversify".
For the agronomist, the problem is "this exaggeratedly specialized industrial agriculture where price competition has been played, at the lowest monetary cost, but forgetting the health costs in food and environmental costs". While the current system is in "financial crisis, with derisory farmers' incomes" It advocates agriculture "more careful and more demanding in work" which "must therefore be properly remunerated" analysis Marc Dufumier. "Farmers deserve to be paid for environmental services," he suggests.
... and an ecological crisis
The other challenge is ecological according to Marc Dufumier. Taking the example of beets, he explains that by banning neonicotinoids, "rightly, because they do the greatest harm to bees and pollinating insects" we expose crops to other problems. "When an aphid hits a beet, it's yellowing and suddenly the yields and income collapse."
However, the sugar crisis is older according to him. "There are already sugar factories closing in metropolitan France and it is pointless to think that producing surplus sugar and then transforming it into ethanol could one day be competitive with sugar cane from Brazil, on farms of 40,000 hectares ". So he sums up, "not putting your eggs in the same basket is really a solution for the future".