France Sees World’s Biggest Increase in Organic Land Area

March 1, 2020 Oliver Moore Latest from EU Member States, Main stories, Recent updates

Globally, by many measures, France is showing the fastest growth in organics.

The organic market in France was worth E 9.1 billion in 2018, according to “The World of Organic Agriculture 2020” which comes out every February. Organic land area in France grew by 16.7% in 2018 – a huge increase for a single year. This growth of 290,000 hectares brings France to 2.04 million hectares, now second only to Spain in Europe, and the sixth highest land area farmed organically in the world.

Read the World of Organic Agriculture 2020

This 290,000 hectares growth is the world’s biggest increase in organic land area, greater than huge countries such as Canada, Russia, China and others recorded.

Over 10 years, this is a 200% growth rate – an incredible rate that saw about 5000 farms a year convert to organic in 2017 and over 6600 in 2018. This means that when 2019 stats come out, it is predicted that there will be over 46,000 organic farmers in France.

The market too saw enormous growth in France: at 15.4% growth in 2018, France again saw the world’s biggest increase. France is now the world’s third biggest organic market, behind the US and Germany. Organic eggs now command 30% of the entire egg market in France.

Agence Bio, a French agency that supports the development of the organic sector, predicts another 50% market growth by 2025.

For the first time, organic sales in mainstream supermarkets and online have surpassed alternative routes, which shows both how specific the retail environment is in France compared to other EU member states and how mainstream organic is becoming in France. Growth in mainstream retail outlets in France for organic was 235% from 2010 to 2019.

An issue with this mainstream growth has been a rise in consumer suspicion – “With the arrival of large retailers and large agrifood companies, the consumer may be asking the question ‘is this the same organic product?'” says Florent Guhl, the director of the Agence Bio, as reported in Challenges magazine in January. Guhl was responding to the finding that 2/3 of consumers have doubts as to the veracity of organic products in France.

Agence Bio, conducted a study of consumer attitudes to organic food from 15 to 27 November 2019, with 2,000 people. Almost 90% of people now consume some organic food, according to the survey results. Health, taste and environment remain the main motivating factors in that order, with preservation of health (59% of respondents), quality and taste (51%), preservation of the environment (45%). “We are witnessing regular development and across all age groups” Guhl added.

The survey also saw a rise in a number of health and environmental variables for the French consumer, including avoiding waste, more seasonal eating, more cooking and so on.

This growth has come with its own controversies. Back in 2018, France had earmarked 15% organic land area by 2022, in a plan that included an ambitious target of 20% organic via public procurement. A recent Senator’s report now calls this out as overly ambitious, especially with regard to public procurement, where the figure is only at 3%.

Instead 2026 is now considered the likely date for 15% land area organic. In 2018, 7.3% of the overall land area was farmed organically.

One of the Senators who commissioned the report, Alan Houpert, noted that “it is mainly dairy cattle breeders and winegrowers who convert. Arable crops are more difficult because yields fall enormously and compensations are not enough” he told Futura Planete.

Concerns were also expressed at the low rate of state support – organic receives about 1% of what goes into agriculture (E1.3billion, 2013-2019, or about E200 million a year) and a shift in supports to conversions rather than full symbol organic.

Notwithstanding these issues, both farming and the market see very rapid growth for organics in France. In this, the benefits of a dedicated agency to promote organics are clear.

More on France and on organics

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About Oliver Moore 214 Articles

Dr. Oliver Moore is the communications director and editor-in-chief with ARC2020. He has a PhD in the sociology of farming and food, where he specialised in organics and direct sales. He is published in the International Journal of Consumer Studies, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology and the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. A weekly columnist and contributor with Irish Examiner, he is a regular on Countrywide (Irish farm radio show on the national broadcaster RTE 1) and engages in other communications work around agri-food and rural issues, such as with the soil, permaculture, climate change adaptation and citizen science initiative Grow Observatory . He lectures part time in the Centre for Co-operative Studies UCC.

A propos d'Oliver Moore
Oliver voyage beaucoup moins qu’auparavant, pour ce qui concerne son activité professionnelle. Il peut néanmoins admirer par la fenêtre de son bureau les mésanges charbonnières et les corbeaux perchés au sommet du saule dans le jardin de sa maison au cœur de l’écovillage de Cloughjordan, en Irlande. L’écovillage est un site de 67 acres dans le nord du Tipperary. Il comprend d’espaces boisés, des paysages comestibles, des lieux de vie, d’habitation et de travail, ainsi qu’une ferme appartenant à la communauté. Les jours où il travaille dans le bureau du centre d’entreprise communautaire, il profite d’une vue sur les chevaux, les panneaux solaires, les toilettes sèches et les jardins familiaux.

Ce bureau au sein de l’écovillage constitue en effet un tiers-lieu de travail accueillant également des collaborateurs des associations Cultivate et Ecolise, ainsi qu’un laboratoire de fabrication (« fab lab »).

Oliver est membre du conseil d’administration de la ferme communautaire (pour la seconde fois !) et donne également des cours sur le Master en coopératives, agroalimentaire et développement durable à l’University College Cork. Il a une formation en sociologie rurale : son doctorat et les articles qu’il publie dans des journaux scientifiques portent sur ce domaine au sens large.

Il consacre la majorité de son temps de travail à l’ARC 2020. Il collabore avec ARC depuis 2013, date à laquelle l’Irlande a assuré la présidence de l’UE pendant six mois. C’est là qu’il a pu constater l’importance de la politique agroalimentaire et rurale grâce à sa chronique hebdomadaire sur le site d’ARC. Après six mois, il est nommé rédacteur en chef et responsable de la communication, poste qu’il occupe toujours aujourd’hui. Oliver supervise le contenu du site web et des médias sociaux, aide à définir l’orientation de l’organisation et parfois même rédige un article pour le site web.

À l’époque où on voyageait davantage, il a eu la chance de passer du temps sous les tropiques, où il a aidé des ONG irlandaises de commerce équitable – au Ghana, au Kenya, au Mali, en Inde et au Salvador – à raconter leur histoire.

Il se peut que ces jours-là reviennent. Pour son compte Oliver continuera de préférer naviguer en Europe par bateau, puis en train. Après tout, la France n’est qu’à une nuit de navigation. En attendant, il y a toujours de nombreuses possibilités de bénévolat dans la communauté dans les campagnes du centre de l’Irlande.