As a reminder, simply on food consumption, the subject of this article, it has been more than 10 years since the Earth's agricultural production capacity exceeded 10 billion mouths...yet billions of men continue not to eat to their hunger...Find the mistake!
Food deconsumption: “Unheard of since the 80s”
Less meat, less fish... have the French become more attentive to the carbon impact of their diet? Not really, they suffer. They are experiencing food inflation to the point of having to reduce the quality and quantity of their food basket. A situation that is all the more worrying as it seems to be long-term.
This is a drop in historical food consumption, although less significant than expected because INSEE has revised its methodology. It’s even “unheard of” since the start of the census of this data by INSEE in the 80s, explains to Novethic the economist at the French Observatory of Economic Conditions (OFCE), François Geerolf. How to explain it? By food inflation, also unprecedented, linked to the decline in purchasing power. “Wages have not increased as quickly as prices,” explains the specialist. In October, INSEE recorded an increase of +7,8% in food prices.
The results of the latest NielsenIQ barometer published in mid-November for LSA magazine were already striking: “Today, France is the country where prices have increased the most since January 2022”, noted the panelist who scrutinized the prices of thousands of consumer products in seven European countries. As a result, France is one of the worst European countries in this area. Added to this is the worsening poverty in the territory. Hence the calls for donations from food insecurity associations which are unable to meet demand.
Another study, this time from Cways/Fondation Nestlé France, drove home the point on November 16: 37% of French people would declare themselves food insecure in 2023 compared to 11% in 2015. Young people, women, single people and single-parent families are particularly affected. “Hit by inflation, households are favoring low-cost products, reducing quantities and eliminating foods such as fish and meat in favor of starchy foods or canned foods,” summarizes Pascale Hébel (CWays) in Challenges, specialist in eating behaviors.
Sobriety or austerity
The organic sector, for example, has paid the price. Forced to make trade-offs, consumers are turning away from these products after strong growth in sales in recent years. Some organic milk producers are therefore forced to sell their product at the price of conventional milk. A colossal shortfall that endangers the entire industry.
Beyond the price, organic is going through a crisis of consumer confidence and is competing with local, regional products, pesticide-free, GMO-free, palm oil-free claims... "Does organic farming have a future?" asks François Geerolf. For the economist everything will depend on the evolution of income. “I’m not very optimistic from a macro point of view,” he confides.
As for the renunciation of meat or fish, and the reduction in volume in general, some could see this as a tendency towards sobriety. “The French relationship with consumption is evolving,” Emily Mayer, an analyst specializing in the sector, recently told Novethic. “Food waste is becoming a real issue at the moment. We throw away 27 kg of food per individual per year, if every French person starts to pay attention, the volumes could actually drop.", she says.
It remains that this deconsumption suffered relies largely on the poorest. 42% of the most precarious French people are forced to skip a meal. But “sobriety without equality is austerity for the poorest,” writes economist Maxime Combes in a column.
source: https://www.novethic.fr/actualite/socia ... 51953.html
Uh..."sobriety without equality is austerity for the poorest" WHAT?!
ps: the organized band of braggarts who run us hadn't promised that inflation was over at the start of the 2023 school year? They clearly confirm their ability to produce the opposite of what they promise... but like in Sarko's time, are we changing the methodology to hide incompetence?
