100 million euros in loans, water storage, Ecophyto plan… New measures from the executive towards farmers

The government made public "additional" measures in favor of farmers on Saturday, in the hope of ending for good the crisis which caused exceptional blockages at the start of the year and continues to smolder among farmers. But will they be enough? Among these measures are the promised presentation "at the beginning of May" of the final version of the Ecophyto pesticide reduction plan, put on hold due to the agricultural crisis, new cash flow aid for farms, the acceleration of 100 production projects. water storage or irrigation, and an aid plan for three departments hit by weather crises (Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude, Hérault).

The government also confirms that the reform of agricultural pensions, the technical implementation of which was debated, will apply in 2026. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, for his part, is expected on Saturday in Manche in Pirou where he will visit a “fair whelks” then a market gardening operation. “These additional measures, in addition to the 67 measures that I announced on January 26, demonstrate our determination to meet the needs of our farmers,” said Gabriel Attal in a press release, updating the initial count of 62 commitments. Whatever their exact number and their state of progress, these measures aim to put an end to the historic agricultural crisis of this winter, which continued after the mobilizations organized throughout France in January-February - until the Salon de agriculture where the head of state was widely booed.

After reading the government plan, the majority unions FNSEA and Jeunes Agriculteurs judge that a phase of work is “ending” and promise to be “extremely vigilant” to monitor their realization. The two unions “now consider that the phase of work following the mobilizations started last November is ending. The third phase of monitoring the concrete implementation of each of the measures now opens,” they underlined in a joint press release. The unions also call on “all parliamentarians to demonstrate responsibility to translate all of this progress into the laws currently being examined or to come”.

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For farmers' cash flow, the public investment bank BPI France will provide new financing of at least 100 million euros in the form of personal cash loans (up to 75,000 euros) or guarantees for loans from private banks. , for example, specifies a government source. The government also plans to increase the rate of property tax relief on undeveloped properties in the event of a climate or health disaster.

In the longer term, the government plans to launch a “support” plan for farmers in the Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude and Hérault, particularly affected by drought, frost or floods, which will be equipped with 50 million euros for projects to adapt to climate change and develop local sectors.

The government has also committed to accelerating 50 agricultural water storage or irrigation projects by June, and 50 others by the end of 2024. Types of projects highly contested by environmental associations. The government finally confirmed the implementation of the agricultural pension reform, the calculation method of which was debated, “from 2026” on the 25 best years of career.

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These measures “really make it possible to arrive at a global response to the concerns expressed by farmers and to enter a phase which is no longer that of mobilization”, underlines a government source. Even if a potential meeting between agricultural unions and Emmanuel Macron “will depend a lot on the reaction of the different unions to this new package”, we add. Some agricultural unions are talking about a possible meeting with the president on May 2, not confirmed at this stage by the Élysée. A first meeting planned for March with Emmanuel Macron had been postponed. The Élysée had announced that the president would receive the unions “when all the work carried out by the government allows the president to conclude the sequence”.

The deputies must also examine on Monday according to Matignon the agricultural orientation bill, revised after the crisis. With subjects such as training, hedges or the revision of the scale of penalties in the event of damage to nature, it aims to accelerate the arrival of new generations of farmers, relieved of certain environmental constraints.

Gabriel Attal received on several occasions the agricultural unions who, on March 19, had presented to him five “blocks” of priorities which concerned breeding, water storage and pesticides, “competitiveness”, treasury and agricultural pensions. Government and farmers have “converged on a new strategy” of the Ecophyto 2030 plan which will be published “at the beginning of May” and takes up the government's commitments to now be based on a European indicator, instead of the French used until now. A change in method denounced by several NGOs who criticize the European indicator for less clearly differentiating the harmfulness of pesticides.