Walid Battal
Organic farming is a set of techniques whose aim is to respect the development cycles of agricultural systems and the biological activities of the soil.
France, an agricultural country par excellence, has in recent years advocated sound agricultural practices in order to better develop the sector. Indeed, according to a report published by the French Ministry of Agriculture, more than 61163 farms are engaged in organic farming, 26276 companies are certified organic or in the process of certification. Also, 2.8 million hectares of land are dedicated to organic farming. In this sense, the country is increasingly encouraging these sustainable practices by increasing subsidies by 50%. This allows local farmers to opt for this trend, while keeping profit margins reasonable. It is important to know that the French agri-food sector is governed by many regulations and standards that producers are obliged to respect. AB (Organic Farming), AOC, AOP, Label Rouge, Halal… Several labels have been set up with the aim of promoting respect for biodiversity and the preservation of natural resources.
However, in some cases, the implementation of sustainable technologies is costly for smallholders. This effort thus helps to support farmers, encourages them to adopt these practices, while strengthening the competitiveness of the French organic sector at the national and European level.