“We were severely affected by the crisis. In the fall of 2022, we jointly decided to impose production quotas and reduce our volume by 20%., testifies Jérôme Jacob, pig farmer in Quimper (Finistère) and president of the Bretagne Viande Bio (BVB) group, which brings together 24 pig farmers. The hardest part, he said, was refusing to open the circle to the newly converted organic farmer. “We had to say that we had to choose between him or the whole group of breeders. By leaving it on the floor we will protect ourselves”, he adds. Mr. Jacob also explains that a BVB-affiliated farmer was forced to drop organic certification.
This example illustrates the acute crisis that organic farming is facing. A situation related to the severe slowdown in French consumption. If signs of slowdown were already visible in 2021, they increased in 2022. “Almost €600 million evaporated in one year, and the organic market fell to €12.076 billion.Says Laure Verdeau, director of Agence bio, the public structure responsible for coordinating the organic ecosystem. “As a result, the share of organic products in the French diet fell from 6.4% to 6%”regrets
1 according to data published on ThursdayEh Agency bio In June, the French put fewer products printed in a white flower on a green background into their supermarket shopping baskets. The decrease in sales in supermarkets reached 4.6%. However, big brands remain the leading organic marketing channel, accounting for 53% of the total.
Lower than usual
Loyal customers of specialized stores such as Biocoop or La Vie claire also looked at the costs. They paid 8.6% less for these brands. In other bad news, the share of organic food in the diet, which is already at a minimum, has further decreased, from 2% to 1%. The only positive points highlighted by Agence bio in its annual report are the good performance of direct sales, which increased by 3.9% and the increase in market share in collective meals, with an increase of 18%. But this does not compensate for the air gap in the market.
This brutal slowdown, especially noticeable in 2022 after years of double-digit growth, has put all organic players on the wrong foot. All sectors, eggs, milk, pork, fruits and vegetables as well as grains are mixed. “We went from 630 million to 1.3 billion liters of milk in 5 years”Underlines Nathalie Delagnes, breeder in Aveyron with 50 dairy cows and president of the Biolait cooperative, which collects throughout the national territory.
Source: Le Monde
Ashley Fitzgerald is a financial whiz and a writer at Run Down Bulletin. With a passion for all things economy, she provides insightful and thought-provoking coverage of the latest economic trends and events.
