French government scraps organic farming targets from agri law under discussion

The first article of the national agricultural orientation law has been voted through French parliament, removing the targets of 15% of farmland for organic agriculture and 8% for legumes.

The step has drawn ire from NGOs, who called it a historic step backwards in France’s environmental ambitions.

Although it went relatively unnoticed, the withdrawal of the quantified targets for organic farmland and legume crops has now been confirmed following the first votes on the new agricultural policy law, which began on 15 May.

“This removal is a step backwards, as there is a genuine scientific consensus on the fact that organic farming is one of the agricultural production methods with the most positive environmental and socio-economic externalities”, thirty-odd associations said in a press release on 22 May.

In law since 2009

It was in 2009 that the objective of achieving a certain level of organic agricultural land was enshrined in law: 6% by 2012, then 20% by 2020.

In the same year, the EU “Farm to Fork” strategy proposed the achievement of 25% of organic land on the total of agricultural land.

In 2021, the French government announced a target of 15% by 31 December 2022, with a further 8% of land to be cultivated with legumes by 2030.

Although included in the initial draft of the law, these targets were withdrawn during the vote at the National Assembly on Article 1 of the new draft agricultural policy law on 16 May.

The Greens failed to pass an amendment reinstating these – rejected by the majority of MPs, in particular the right (Les Républicains and Rassemblement National). The new French law will therefore no longer mention quantified targets on organics.

The withdrawal “represents a serious and historic step backwards for the environment”, denounced the member of parliament for La France insoumise (LFI, far left) Aurélie Trouvé, on X the day after the vote. “Macron is the 1st president of agri-environmental regression”, she added.

Questioned on the issue in Parliament, Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau accepted this decision, ironically pointing out that the target was for 31 December 2022. France currently has around 10% of its land under organic farming.

“It’s pointless to legislate annual or two-yearly targets”, he insisted, denouncing the “shocks” and “bifurcations” put forward by the ecologists.

National target in the CAP plan

NGOs regretted that the promise of the government’s “Ambition Bio Programme” – 18% of agricultural aera in organic farming by 2027 – has not been incorporated.

Fesneau replied that the target has already been set in the French National Strategic Plan (NSP) for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

While the EU’s organic area has grown in recent years, reaching 10.4% of total land area by 2022, the contraction in the market since the COVID crisis has slowed the momentum.

According to a recent report, France is on a par with the European average, with 10% of farmland in organic production, close to Germany with 11.2%. Italy stands out with 17.9%, as does Austria, which tops the list with 27.5%.

In its action plan for organic production in the EU, presented in 2021, the European Commission intends to devote 25% of land to organic farming by 2030.

For the French associations, enshrining these targets in law “will guarantee their legal value and ensure that the desired agricultural model is on track for 2030, with clear, quantified milestones, in the spirit of ecological planning”.

They called for them to be reinstated during the remainder of the bill’s examination in Parliament.

EU needs to stimulate demand for organic food, stakeholders say

In 2022 the area under organic agriculture and the number of producers increased, but the bloc faced a decline in organic food retail sales in 2022, according to the new report of the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture.

[Edited by Angelo Di Mambro and Zoran Radosavljevic]

Read more with Euractiv

The EU quota for imported sugar from Ukraine is already filled, Kyiv producers warn

The volumes exported to the bloc have already reached the limit established in the new 'trade benefits' regulation, Ukrainian producers said calling for the EU to stop importing sugar from their country for 2024.