Organic food / organic farming

[moinsdewatt]

Consumption of organic products breaks records in France

Adrien Cahuzac Usine Nouvelle on 21/09/2016

The French market for organic products saw its turnover jump 20% in the first quarter of 2016. A real record. The number of business start-ups in the sector is also increasing significantly.

More than 20%. This is the insolent growth expected this year for the organic products market in France, to make any sector of the French economy pale. According to Agence Bio, which brings together the various links in the sector, from agricultural upstream to the distribution of finished products, the sector's turnover should reach 6,9 billion euros in France this year. , against 5,75 billion in 2015, a gain of more than one billion euros in one year. "It's a real record", welcomed on September 21, Florent Guhl, the new director of the Organic Agency. "The sector is confirming its take-off," said Didier Perreol, president of the Organic Agency, stressing that 21 new farms are switching to the organic sector every day, after the minimum period of two years for conversion. The number of French producers engaged in organic production stands at 31880 and the agency estimates that by the end of the year, organic farms will exceed the 1,5 million hectare mark, i.e. more than 5,8% of the useful agricultural area (UAA).

A downstream to structure

Downstream companies are also in the same dynamic, since in barely six months, 1200 new operators (processors, traders and distributors) were created, for a total of 14338 companies as of June 20, 2016. For Didier Perreol, also president of the Ekibio group, it is important for manufacturers to join forces. "Industrial tools are increasingly difficult to manage. Concentration is a way of keeping efficient companies, which invest in structured sectors, in order to be able to maintain their independence tomorrow", he stressed.

The fact remains that French production still remains in deficit compared to demand. "76% of organic products consumed in France were produced in France, against 72% in 2014," said Florent Guhl. But exports from the French sector are increasing significantly. "Companies positioned on export have seen this outlet increase by 15 to 20% in recent months", detailed Didier Perreol, speaking of a "strong dynamic". In any case, the French trade balance remains in deficit, despite government plans to aid conversion, a point on which the Organic Agency remains deliberately discreet.

http://www.usinenouvelle.com/article/la ... ce.N440362

[izentrop]

NEW FACES (from the Ile-de-France AB in 2015). They are happy to go organic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6e26yCWlUY

[moinsdewatt]

Organic farming continues to progress in 2016
In total, 32.326 organic farms made up the French landscape in 2016, i.e. 7,3% of French farms ...

Organic continues to appeal. The areas devoted to organic farming, as well as the rate of conversions of farms to this type of farming continued to increase in France in 2016, according to a report published on Tuesday by Agence Bio.

Certified organic crops reached just over 1 million hectares at the end of 2016, an increase of 5% compared to the previous year, while, more generally, the areas used for organic farming, including farms in transition, were up 16% to 1,54 million hectares.

"This growth, of the order of 16% in one year, is the result of numerous commitments during the year which bring the areas under conversion to more than 470.000 ha", underlines the Agence bio.

32.326 organic farms in 2016

But despite this increase, these areas represent only 5,7% of the useful agricultural area (UAA) in France.

In total, 32.326 organic farms made up the French landscape in 2016, i.e. 7,3% of French farms, which places France in third position within the European Union.


"We have an exceptional 2016, with 3.900 new organic farmers, this is a very spectacular progression", welcomes AFP Florent Guhl, director of Agence Bio.

500 dairy and lactating cattle farms engaged in organic

This growth is particularly pronounced in the Occitanie region, which totals 20% of French organic producers, or 7.227, specifies Agence Bio.

Occitanie is closely followed by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions "which each have between 4.700 and 4.800 producers in 2016", while "these three regions are also those which experienced the highest number of conversions in 2016 ".

In the context of the livestock crisis, 500 dairy and lactating cattle farms are engaged in organic farming.

In the field crops sector, 870 farms, or "approximately 60.000 ha whose conversion begins in 2016", have joined "the 69.000 ha committed in 2015", adds Agence Bio which anticipates "a prospect of certified organic harvest in strong growth for the next few years. "

A market of 7 billion euros in 2016

This future cereal production "will meet growing demand from the sector for both human food and organic food for certified animals," she continues.

"It is obvious that the difficulty of conventional farmers in animal husbandry is to be compared with the conversions of farmers in organic farming," says Florent Guhl.

But "the real engine", continues Florent Guhl, "it is also the organization of collection and processing companies that have made it possible to develop this market".

The organic market should reach 7 billion euros in 2016, against 5,5 billion euros the previous year, sales having increased "in all distribution channels", according to Agence Bio, which currently carries out " a precise assessment […] with all the players in the sector ”.

http://www.20minutes.fr/societe/2018259 ... esser-2016

[Janic]

Hello

"It is obvious that the difficulty of conventional farmers in animal husbandry is to be compared with the conversions of farmers in organic farming," says Florent Guhl.

absolutely! organic is considered as a way out of the industrial agrochemical system which impoverishes the farmers (or farmers). The problem is that this change, out of interest rather than conviction, leads to the lowest price and possible cheating from which the entire industry will suffer.

[Did67]

Maybe two or three things:

a) There is undoubtedly a "sincere movement" towards "organic", starting from a questioning of the model in which certain farmers were engaged (even locked up). They realize it. They have more and more testimonies that "it works", contrary to what "one" had told them or predicted!

b) There is also indisputably a movement towards "bio intensive" (or "high productivity"), with drifts.

c) In any case, the "organic" labeled "organic" has its own limits, even if it should be encouraged as a major step forward. Great breakthrough does not mean "perfection"! I always list the authorized use of natural fertilizers, the authorized use of natural pesticides, some of which are not without dangers, many of which also have side effects. Authorized use of heat treatment of soil, a massacre of microflora and microfauna (in market gardening). Significant use of tillage, including earthworm-killing "rotavators" ...

Of course, in conventional, it's worse!

d) The worst is undoubtedly the "organic" imported from China, South Africa, South America, etc ... with disastrous "carbon" balances. It may be "organic" (if the certification is serious - I sometimes doubt it in some countries where we know the rate of corruption at all levels - I do not see why we "should not" buy certificates?) , it remains a disaster for the planet ...

e) Finally, let's not kid ourselves! Almost 95% of our food remains ... conventional. + 15%, when you start from little, that remains little! Even if the number is high. About 1 million ha concerned and + I do not know how many%, that "flashes". But it's 1 in about 30 ... There is still some way to go!

f) So yes, "organic" is the new niche on which the "system" is currently making margins. Hyper channels are not for "organic". They are for business. And the "organic" department is the only one on which there is a high growth rate. And margins. So, yes, it is developing! Capitalistically ...

I specify it: I am for the "organic". Even though I try to stay clear-headed.

[Janic]

Hello

e) Finally, let's not kid ourselves! Almost 95% of our food remains ... conventional. + 15%, when you start from little, that remains little! Even if the number is high. About 1 million ha concerned and + I do not know how many%, that "flashes". But it's 1 in about 30 ... There is still some way to go!

more specifically, the majority of the population eats conventional food; which makes a big difference.
If this interest in organic is so developed today, we must remember (40/50 years ago) all the anti organic campaigns supported by state services, the media, consumer organizations (especially 50 millions by the way!) largely orchestrated by the agrochemical lobbies. The health scandals, plus the official "recognition" of "organic" favored the change of mentalities of the general public which is more and more favorable to this mode of production. [*]
But since demand and supply do not coincide, this opens the door wide to abuse, "Chinese" or others

f) So yes, "organic" is the new niche on which the "system" is currently making margins. Hyper channels are not for "organic". They are for business. And the "organic" department is the only one on which there is a high growth rate. And margins. So, yes, it is developing! Capitalistically ...

fully agree! I say it and repeat it since my registration on this site

I specify it: I am for the "organic". Even though I try to stay clear-headed.

The founder of La Vie Claire explained in his lectures and works that we were no longer in a period of all good, at all pure, since our polluted environment did not allow it and therefore we were in a period of "survival »Organic or not. After each decides the degree of pollution and poisoning that he accepts for himself, his family and between being amputated with a finger or an arm, even on the contrary, a finger is already a lot!
[*] We can notice that this is often accompanied by a growing interest in medicines, also unconventional.

[Did67]

... also unconventional.

We agree with what you wrote.

It remains to be seen whether we can still consider "organic" as "unconventional" ??? Or if it is already the new "convention" ???? So what if the "also" has its place?

[sen-no-sen]

e) Finally, let's not kid ourselves! Almost 95% of our food remains ... conventional. + 15%, when you start from little, that remains little! Even if the number is high. About 1 million ha concerned and + I do not know how many%, that "flashes". But it's 1 in about 30 ... There is still some way to go!

Indeed, because at the same time, whole countries are converting to agro-chemistry and GMOs, we find here the notion of sustainable development where recent initiatives by industrialized countries only hide a catastrophic balance sheet on a global scale ...

[Did67]

The 95% is for France.

There are countries where the share is much higher (Austria, for example). But indeed, others where it is negligible ... And whole swathes of forests that fall in Indonesia or Brazil ...

[Janic]

It remains to be seen whether we can still consider "organic" as "unconventional" ??? Or if it is already the new "convention" ???? So what if the "also" has its place?

as soon as organic has been recognized and formalized, it has already switched to conventional "organic". Fortunately, there are and always will be them and those who do not want to ride on ready-made rails. This is also the case with homeopathy which, as long as it is denigrated, is that it hinders the conventional institutions in place, so it is a good sign, but as soon as it falls into line, the problem will become full and whole again.