Is the 2023 Agricultural Show still attractive for farmers?

Yanis Darras 3:45 p.m., February 26, 2023

Cows, pigs, local products and visitors happy to find one of their favorite annual meeting.

No doubt: the Salon de l'Agriculture 2023 edition has just opened its doors.

An edition awaited by exhibitors and by the many French people who will visit it, after a particularly complex year. 

Because 2022 will not have spared consumers, nor farmers, faced with the rise in raw materials and energy following the Ukrainian conflict in particular.

To this was added the acceleration of climate change in the country, with mega-fires and an exceptional drought during the summer, which continues today as rainfall has been rare in France for forty days. .

Thus, last year, the yield of corn crops fell by almost 15%, compared to 2021, announces the French Chamber of Agriculture.

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"It's the best in the country"

And in the face of the climate crisis, more and more voices are being raised to denounce the impact of livestock farming on the climate.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in its report published in 2021, the livestock sector is responsible for 14.5% of global CO2 emissions.

Faced with this observation, and in a context of inflation and climate crisis, is the Salon de l'Agriculture still attractive for farmers? 

"I think so", the Salon de l'Agriculture remains attractive, "because in terms of animals as well as in terms of products, it's a bit what is done best in the country", explains the director of the event, Jean-Luc Poulain.

Contacted by Europe 1, this operator in the Oise insists: "If we want to advance agriculture, nothing like having solid locomotives. And precisely, the people who come to the show to exhibit are the locomotives that pull entire production" and the sector. 

An appointment not to be missed

"It's really the meeting place for farmers," said Henri Bies-Péré, dairy cow breeder and second vice-president of the National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA).

"It is an opportunity to exchange within the same family, on the breeds of cattle, pigs, sheep, etc". 

Above all, "the Salon de l'Agriculture is also a great week where (farmers) know that communication is rather positive about agriculture in the media, with the general public. We talk about agriculture under days that we would like to see more often", recognizes Henri Bies-Péré. 

Towards new militant actions?

The Agricultural Show will also be the time to discuss ecological concerns, believe the two farmers, while the show is marked each year by militant actions.

"Attention today is drawn to agriculture, which must be prepared for the years to come. The problems to come will not be solved with violent actions, but rather with dialogue", recalls the second vice-president of the FNSEA, Henri Bies-Péré.

A future that will necessarily go through digital, very present this year in the aisles of the show and which will allow farmers to improve animal well-being and better limit their impact on the environment.

Because "nobody has an interest in going to the confrontation. We all have an interest in progress, both farmers and environmentalist associations", concludes for his part Jean-Luc Poulain.

Last year, the association Extinction Rebellion had invaded the stand of the agricultural union of the FNSEA.

The NGO Greenpeace had chosen, for its part, to install a large banner above the entrance of visitors to denounce "new GMOs".