Faced with the appetite of the French for organic products, the government wants to double the agricultural area dedicated to these.

An ambition shared with the European Union which increases the budget by 30% to help operators convert.

But at the same time, the EU intends to abolish maintenance aid for farmers who have already converted.

The French want to eat better.

Proof of this is the consumption of organic fruits and vegetables increased by 5% in 2020. A trend that has been observed for several years and which has accelerated since the Covid-19 crisis.

Faced with the enthusiasm, the Ministry of Agriculture wants to act quickly and make France self-sufficient, to avoid leaving this booming market to European neighbors.

To achieve this, the State plans to double the surface area of ​​organic products by 2027.

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Maintenance aid abolished

Like the French, Europeans are increasingly interested in organic farming.

So to meet demand, the new Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, the CAP, set for the period from 2023 to 2027, increases by 30% the envelope devoted to the conversations of farms towards organic. 

If this dynamic seems interesting for farmers wishing to take the organic step, for those who have already converted their farms to the organic label, this new CAP is disappointing.

The EU plans to abolish maintenance aid intended for the latter.

Until now, this aid was paid for five years to each farmer who made his conversion. 

Already disconversions 

"Innovation is over. I will no longer do research as I do today on agriculture and organic conservation," regrets Thomas Lafouasse, cereal farmer and market gardener already converted in Essonne. For the farmer, this abolition of maintenance aid represents a loss of 50,000 euros. "I'm going to hire a little less, renew my equipment a lot less. I'm going to do the roundabout in fact. I'm just going to do the minimum to survive," he explains. 

For this cereal, "there will be a lot of disconversions".

A theory that is already being confirmed within the National Federation of Organic Agriculture, which observes a decline in farmers' interest in converting to organic, especially in Normandy.

"We are in a low period. There is little demand for conversation on the dairy sector, no or hardly any on the cereal sector. On the beef sector, it is also very weak", laments the national secretary of the Federation, Loïc Madeline. 

Competition from the HVE label

For the Secretary General, if no strong signal is sent to the sector by 2023, it will be difficult to reactivate the sector.

As a direct consequence for consumers, the price of organic fruits and vegetables could increase at the checkout.

Finally, another risk is the temptation of some farmers to turn to the high environmental value label, HVE. 

An agricultural certification that is much less demanding than organic and which notably allows the use of pesticides.

However, farmers choosing this label will be able to claim the same aid as for organic farmers.

Enough to further disadvantage organic production.