Key Takeaways
- French Minister Marc Fesneau announced nearly €1 billion in additional funding for agriculture in the 2024 budget.
- The funding aims to support young farmers, land access, and ecological planning.
- The increase represents a 15% hike from the 2023 budget, totaling around €5.9 billion.
- Additional efforts will reach “€2.6 to €2.7 billion” by 2026.
- The government also considers “tax incentives” to support crucial farmer replacement services.
French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau announced on September 10, 2023, that the government will allocate nearly €1 billion in additional funding to the agriculture budget 2024. This move aims to support the transition to more sustainable agricultural practices, including land access for young farmers and ecological planning.
Budget Increase
The additional funding will be added to the existing €5.9 billion agriculture budget for 2023, representing a 15% increase. Minister Fesneau announced this at the “Terre de Jim” gathering in Cambrai, organized by the Young Farmers Union (JA), affiliated with the majority union FNSEA. The minister also indicated that the extra effort compared to 2023 would reach “€2.6 to €2.7 billion” by 2026.
Tax Incentives and Support
Fesneau also proposed creating “tax incentives” to support farmer replacement services. These services are crucial for livestock farmers who cannot leave their herds for vacation and are often victims of professional exhaustion.
Land Access and Ecological Planning
In the coming months, a €400 million “land carrying fund” will be implemented to help farmers acquire land. “Access to land is at the heart of the challenge of setting up in the agricultural sector. It is increasingly an obstacle to installing young farmers,” said Fesneau. As part of ecological planning, €500 million is earmarked to reduce the use of phytosanitary products, and €100 million for a vegetable protein plan.
Resilience and Climate Change
Fesneau warned that new agricultural projects must be resilient, particularly in the face of climate change. The government also plans a “food sovereignty and ecological transition fund” to allow farms to adapt their economic models to decarbonization requirements, renewable energy production, or climate change adaptation.
Public Reaction
The collective Nourrir, supported by 54 associations representing producers, consumers, environmental activists, or fair trade (including the Peasant Confederation and Greenpeace), regretted that this presentation was made only in front of the JA agricultural union. They criticized the lack of significant change that would allow new entrants to agriculture (“NIMA”) to access land for agroecological transition, denouncing “too great a concentration of land.”
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