The French agricultural plan 2023-2027 “greened” by Brussels

The contours of the next Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which will apply from 2023 to 2027, are now fixed for seven countries of the European Union, including France. The European Commission validated, on Wednesday August 31, a first package of “strategic plans”, national versions of this European subsidy program – in addition to that of France, the plans of Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal and Spain are approved. The stakes are high, since these countries represent 120 billion euros in aid over this period, including 45.2 billion for French agriculture.

In a letter of observations sent to France at the end of March, the Commission had criticized the lack of environmental measures in the initial version of the French plan, transmitted in December 2021. This “only partially supports the ecological transition of the agricultural and forestry sectors”, wrote the Commission. The 1884-page plan returned on August 4 by the new Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, and published in extenso by the site Context on August 29has several adjustments.

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The remuneration of organic farming has notably been revised upwards to be differentiated from that of the High Environmental Value (HVE) certification, a much less restrictive label. In its first version, the French strategic plan placed this certification at the same level of remuneration as organic, which had been strongly criticized. From now on, the “ecoregime”, the new tool which will remunerate practices favorable to the climate and to biodiversity, will be higher by 30 euros per hectare for operators in organic farming, compared to those who are in the HVE approach.

The obligation of crop rotation

“We are going to receive 110 euros per hectare. We were expecting a minimum of 120 euros, but this is an acceptable level”, believes Loïc Madeline, of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture (FNAB), who welcomed this arbitration. For MEP Eric Andrieu (Social Democrats), rapporteur in Parliament on the reform of the CAP, this will however not be enough to achieve the objective of doubling the share of organic to reach 18% of agricultural area by 2027. “As France has also removed aid for maintaining organic farming, the account is not there”he berates.

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Another point that sparked a standoff with the European Commission: the obligation to rotate crops, which France initially wanted to waive. “There was a real balance of power: France pleaded for diversification but no rotation obligation, but the Commission did not give in”observes Mathieu Courgeau, president of the associative platform For another PAC. “For 2023 and 2024, crop rotation will be done on 35% of the total area. That is to say that 65% of the surface can remain in monoculture for two yearsexplains Laurence Marandola, from the Confédération Paysanne. From 2025, it will take two different crops over four years on all the plots or a secondary crop each year. And there is an exception to the rules for seed corn. »

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