France has more than enough land to feed its inhabitants. Yet almost half of French farmland serves the global export trade. Food sovereignty will remain a pipe dream as long as the absurd globalised food system continues to hold sway, says a new report by Terre de Liens. The Rural Resilience project reports from the launch event in Paris.
Background
In early 2024, the absurdity of the globalised food system hit the headlines with the farmers protests in France and across Europe. Buying local produce emerged as a way for eaters to show support for the farmers. Now, as France ponders a new framework law for the future of farming, the question remains: Is it still possible to eat local?
In Paris, at the Salon d’Agriculture, an island of resilience met in a conference room above the chaos of the trade show downstairs. Terre de Liens, a partner of the Rural Resilience project, is a citizen movement working to protect farmland and facilitate new entrants in small-scale, ecological farming, prepared to unveil their new report on the situation of food sovereignty in France. In this new report, Terre de Liens warns that by dedicating 43% of land to exports, France is mortgaging its food sovereignty. Only 2,100 m2 of land per capita is available for domestic use – barely half of what is needed to feed one person. Here are the highlights (or read the full report – in French).
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French journalist Maxime Combes highlights an example from the report: “A quarter of milk produced in France is exported in the form of powder and other dairy products, while we import the equivalent of 5 billion litres of milk for the manufacture of industrial foodstuffs.” Via Maxime Combes / Bluesky
When the land doesn’t feed us
France may like to think it ‘feeds the world’. But in the globalised food system it’s the world that feeds France. “Addicted to imports”, the nation draws on 10 million hectares from the four corners of the globe – an area the size of Iceland.
As cheap imported food drives down prices for local farmers, the land does not feed those who work it, nor those who live nearby. Meanwhile France’s exports are harming local economies in target countries by undercutting the prices of local produce. Emmanuel Marchand, a farmer present on the event’s panel referenced feeling like a “fonctionnaire,” or government employee of the CAP, and highlighted that “we’re missing a political tool that brings us towards a transition.” He also pointed out that a short supply chain can and should exist in France, but today “we are missing the tool to add value to products in a short supply chain.”
The balance of trade continues to be the focus of the French government’s efforts to address food sovereignty. Ignoring broader considerations of access to food, public health, and the autonomy of farmers to produce food while respecting the natural resources we depend on: soils, water, biodiversity.
At EU level, CAP effectively subsidises exports, and contributes to the trend of mega farms and industrial agriculture. Since 2023, a portion of CAP money goes to eco-schemes, a tool to encourage agroecological practices. In French hands however this has been a missed opportunity: criteria have been set so low that 90% of farmers qualify for eco-schemes without making any changes to their practices. France has also reduced supports for organic farming, casting doubts on its target to achieve 21% organic farmland by 2030.
Recommendations
Land is a determining factor for food sovereignty. According to Via Campesina, food sovereignty refers to the inalienable right to food, but also the right to participate in the definition of the food system.
To achieve food sovereignty, the entire system must change, from farm to fork. At local level these changes are already happening. From municipal farms to local food programmes to citizen groups to protect farmland, initiatives abound.
Drawing on their kaleidoscope of initiatives on the ground, Terre de Liens puts forward the following recommendations for policymakers:
- Re-orient the CAP towards a common agricultural and food policy
- Bring in massive numbers of new farmers to feed people and create jobs
- Democratise the food system through citizen participation in agricultural authorities
- Steer agri-food actors (processors, retailers, restaurant industry) towards agroecological transition
- Increase the power of local authorities to act by granting them competence in matters of sustainable food
- Allocate lasting resources to support local food strategies
Brigitte Allain, also present on the panel, a former councillor for the Dordogne region, spoke out for increased citizen action in the area of agriculture: “Citizens are absent from the pseudo-democratic agriculture actor today,” but also believes the change must come from public actors capable of managing public ressources for public good, pointing out a project in Lons-le-Saunier. Here, to clean water polluted by traditional farming techniques, the costs revealed themselves to be astronomical. The solution? Help farmers with their lands that feed into the water supply to become organic – a solution that addresses the source, rather than the symptom of the problem.
If today local and regional governments continue to intervene in the economy but not in agriculture, then the future is bleak. But if citizens pressure their local governments to take action, then a secure, safe, and fair food system could be found in the near future.
Download the full report in French from Terre de Liens
More
Access to Land: Looking to Europe to Secure Local Farmland? Part 1
Access to Land: More Resilient Agriculture – Without Any EU Legislation? (Part 2)
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