“Clearly, today, if I had to start my organic conversion again, I would think twice.”
With a neon green t-shirt on his back, Jean-Michel Aurieres cuts apple quarters on an assembly line to offer some to anyone who extends their hand.
He is part of the small team that manages the "Juliet" organic apple stand at the Salon de l'agriculture, which is being held in Paris until March 3.
At home, in Tarn-et-Garonne, 20 hectares out of the 200 of his farm are intended to grow these fruits in organic farming.
Added to this are a few hectares of organic kiwis, a little cereal, and vegetables.
“At the same time, I grow asparagus, peaches, nectarines and apples using conventional farming,” continues the 58-year-old farmer.
And an innovation too: “I am also the only one in France to grow red kiwi under photovoltaic greenhouses!”, he explains without hiding his pride.
For Jean-Michel Aurières, the observation is clear: it is the combined effect of this variety of cultures and being a member of the "Juliet" group which allows him to keep his head above water and to be spared from the crisis affecting the organic sector.
While the market has long experienced double-digit growth, it has been hit hard by the war in Ukraine and inflation.
For two years, sales have fallen significantly, forcing supermarkets to reduce their offerings on the shelves.
Result: organic producers were forced to sell less…or at lower prices, even though production costs, particularly linked to energy prices, were soaring.
"With inflation, customers want to pay less. They want organic at the price of conventional. So we give in but, for us, making organic is longer, more expensive and more complex", testifies the operator.
"Fortunately, our apples are easy to produce and being part of a collective allows us to set our prices. But that's still a lot of energy and effort for a limited investment and if I didn't have my other crops, it would be very complicated financially,” he laments.
Jean-Michel Aurières, organic farmer, lets visitors taste his “Juliet” apples at the Agricultural Show, February 29, 2024. © Cyrielle Cabot, France 24
An enhanced but “insufficient” emergency fund
However, the managers of some 60,000 French organic farms - 10% of the usable agricultural area - seemed to be withdrawn from the movement of anger among farmers which has been brewing since mid-January in France.
On the first day of the Agricultural Show, February 24, while he wandered for more than ten hours from stand to stand, Emmanuel Macron did not, at any time, openly address the issue of organic farming.
If the majority shares the demands of their colleagues on income and administrative difficulties, the only measure targeted against them was announced by Gabriel Attal on January 26 when he allocated an envelope of 50 million euros to emergency aid for organic.
The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, promised them an extension on Wednesday February 28: “The Prime Minister had laid [at the end of January] the foundations of a fund of 50 million euros and we will [it] increase to the tune of 90 million euros,” he announced from the Agricultural Show, after insisting: “Organic farming is a subject that is close to our hearts.”
A “positive” signal, but “largely insufficient”, reacts Philippe Camburet, organic cereal grower in Yonne and president of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture (Fnab).
“In 2023, the government released an envelope of 104 million euros and this made it possible to help only 4,300 farms,” he explains.
“This bottom-line scraping will not be enough when 80% of the 60,000 organic farms are affected and 20% to 30% must be supported.”
Marc Fesneau also presented the Ambition organic 2027 plan, intended to support the development of organic agriculture in France.
With one objective: to achieve 18% of organic surface area by 2027, compared to 10.7% in 2022. To achieve this, the plan launches several avenues: stimulating demand for organic in collective catering and restaurants, " promote" compliance with the objectives of the Egalim law - since 2022, this provides for the ordering of 20% organic products in canteens - to facilitate organic installations or to strengthen communication with consumers.
Give the “bioreflex”
Measures which seem all the more important in view of the figures published by the Organic Agency.
“In 2022, the share of organic products in the French basket has been reduced from 6.4% to 6%. This puts us at the level of the United States, the country of junk food,” laments its director, Laure Verdeau. .
According to the barometer on the consumption and perception of French products published on Wednesday, 54% of French people surveyed say they eat organic once a month - far from the 76% reached in 2021. And those who eat it once a week have gone from 52 % to 30%.
“Several reasons explain this fall: information fatigue, distrust of labels but also the distorted image still often attached to organic products,” explains Laure Verdeau.
"Many see organic products as expensive products that are not accessible to them, even if paradoxically inflation has affected this sector less. And we often imagine raw products, which must be cooked. However, people are asking for easy products to consume,” she explains.
Health and environmental concerns, until now the main motivation for organic consumption, are also taking on less importance in the minds of the French people surveyed, who on the other hand place more value on the pleasure of food, according to this barometer.
Faced with this observation, Laure Verdeau and the Organic Agency want to go on the offensive.
In the coming months, a “biobus” will tour France to raise awareness among the population via a communication campaign called “bioreflex”.
“When we inform the population about organic, they consume it,” insists the director.
“But at the same time, we will not forget to look for all the places that are not home and where we can eat organic: canteens, hospitals, public places but also restaurants,” she insists. .
“Today, only 1% of products purchased by commercial catering are organic. If this percentage increased, it would be a real breath of fresh air.”
The specter of deconversion
While the benefits of organic farming for health, the environment, water quality, biodiversity and even animal welfare have been demonstrated by various scientific studies, all the stakeholders interviewed by France 24 want to show optimism and assure that the current crisis is “cyclical” and not definitive.
“Proof of this is that many young farmers who are setting up want to do it organically,” says Philippe Laymet, organic farmer and president of Interbio Nouvelle-Aquitaine, a regional association bringing together players in the sector.
“But we need real help to enable them to set up and, above all, maintain their activity,” he insists.
On the other hand, some organic farmers today prefer to throw in the towel.
The pig sector thus experienced more farm shutdowns than installations in 2022, according to Agence Bio.
In total, 3,380 farmers in the sector ended their activity compared to 5,245 installations.
About half of these interruptions would be deconversions - the abandonment of organic - to return to conventional.
The rest mainly concerns retirements.
“But these operators do not make this choice out of disenchantment with organic,” insists Philippe Laymet, himself an organic winegrower in Corrèze.
“It’s a demand crisis. If consumption starts to rise again, many customers will convert. We simply need real help to get through this period.”
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