• According to a survey by Coopération Agricole, 46% of French people say they are worried about France's ability to meet the needs of these fellow citizens by 2050.

  • While the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have weakened global trade, French food sovereignty is one of the issues in the presidential campaign.

  • 20 Minutes

    is interested in what the candidates offer in this area.

Behind the Covid-19 pandemic, which has slowed production in exporting countries, and the war in Ukraine, which is straining trade relations between Russia and the West, the question of French food independence has arisen in recent months.

And in the minds of presidential candidates.

And for good reason: according to an Agricultural Cooperation survey drawn up with Ifop published in February, 46% of French people say they are worried about their country's ability to meet the needs of these fellow citizens by 2050.

As a reminder, food sovereignty is defined as "a right of the people to define their own agricultural and food policies", but also "the right to food production and access to healthy food for all », according to Via Campesina, an international movement for the recognition of the fundamental rights of peasants.

But what do the 12 aspirants to the Elysee Palace offer in this regard?

20 Minutes dissected their programs.

Focus on local production

On this, they almost all agree: the French must have access to better food by favoring local production.

Emmanuel Macron (LREM) intends to "revise the state's purchasing policy" by buying "local rather than always buying cheaper".

Jean Lassalle wants to set up a “peasant ticket” or “extend the use of meal tickets to local and regional farmers”.

In addition, Valérie Pécresse (LR) is aiming for “100% of public canteens supplied with local products, including organic, by 2027”.

Marine Le Pen (RN) intends to “reach 80% of French agricultural products in canteens” to “make imports the exception”.

“A good wine, a good meat, a good cheese”.

Fabien Roussel (PCF), he ardently defends access to French gastronomy for all.

The communist candidate wants to introduce a one-euro meal in all schools “from organic and local products”.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon (LFI) and Yannick Jadot (EELV) want 100% organic and local products in canteens.

The LFI candidate offers free meals, while the EELV candidate offers "less meat, better quality and respectful of animal welfare" food.

Finally, Anne Hidalgo, like Emmanuel Macron, wants to experiment with the “sustainable food check”, to guarantee access to quality food for all.

A measure already adopted in Parliament in the “Climate & Resilience” law in July 2021,

“There are two kinds of levers that stand out.

Rather social environmental among left-wing candidates, and economic among right-wing, far-right or Emmanuel Macron candidates, ”explains Eve Fouilleux, director of research at the CNRS in political science.

But beware of “eating local means eating well”.

"It boosts the local economy, but that does not mean that it is necessarily of high quality and/or that the production is respectful of the environment", continues the researcher.

Example: "pollution in the Côtes d'Armor", and in particular the presence of green algae on the beaches and the pollution of groundwater, mainly due to intensive agriculture in the region.

“If it's local AND organic, then yes.

»

Move towards protectionism

Another lever of sovereignty is protectionist measures.

For Marine Le Pen, who recalls in particular “the scandal of Canadian beef with hormones in 2020”, it is necessary to “fight against import fraud”.

If Yannick Jadot limits himself to “European production standards”, Eric Zemmour is in favor of the ban on importing products that do not respect “French and European production standards”.

In the same idea, Fabien Roussel wants to go so far as to “put an end” to free trade treaties.

On the European side, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is still causing much ink to flow.

If Marine Le Pen wants to supplement its aid “with national systems”, Jean-Luc Mélenchon wishes to recast it to “promote ecologically sustainable production”.

Nicolas Dupont-Aignan (DLF) wishes to return to “a CAP with its 3 components: community preference, guaranteed prices and quotas” “The CAP favors increasingly large and therefore polluting farms, continues Eve Fouilleux.

Candidates more to the left find that the subsidies do not encourage enough to respect the environment, while those more to the right find that they do not encourage enough productivism”.

In this logic, Marine Le Pen is opposed to the European “Farm to Fork” strategy, just like Valérie Pécresse.

For more transparency on the origin of the products, Valérie Pécresse and Nicolas Dupont-Aignan both require generalized labeling, with the creation of a label "produced in France" for the LR candidate.

Eric Zemmour imagines a "Homeland-score", "which will work like the Nutri-Score to indicate the share of added value achieved in France of the products consumed".

Bringing back the attractiveness of the farming profession

But the main actors of food sovereignty are the farmers themselves.

According to the ministry, 100,000 farms have disappeared over the past ten years.

To restore the attractiveness of the profession, Yannick Jadot is targeting 100,000 more farmers by guaranteeing them “fair remuneration”, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon is targeting 300,000 thanks to “agrarian reform”.

Pointing to the Egalim laws, which would not have done enough, Fabien Roussel wants to "guarantee remunerative prices and prohibit sales at a loss", just like Marine Le Pen, who intends to "install a new generation of farmers".

An idea also shared by Valérie Pécresse and Anne Hidalgo.

The first wants to apply tax exemptions on the transmission of farms, and the other to protect agricultural land and fight "against land grabbing and the artificialization of soil".

“Helping the transmission is not what would increase the number of farmers in France, because it often happens that the children do not even want to take over the family farm, nuance Eve Fouilleux.

The real problem is that young farmers cannot find land to settle in, because it is taken over by existing farms,”

Politics

Presidential 2022: Less than a week before the first round, can the issue of purchasing power influence the votes?

Politics

Presidential 2022: For Yannick Jadot, Emmanuel Macron is the candidate of "climate denial" and "social regression"

  • Elections

  • Election campaign

  • Agriculture

  • ecology

  • Agrifood

  • Presidential election 2022

  • Covid-19