“Floor prices”, “emergency cash flow plan”… What did Emmanuel Macron announce at the Agricultural Show?

The president promised to bring together at the Elysée, in three weeks, “all the trade union organizations, all the agricultural sectors”.

An eventful inauguration. Emmanuel Macron spoke at length with farmers on Saturday February 24, on the occasion of the opening of the Agricultural Show in Paris. The Head of State made several announcements to respond to the anger of the agricultural sector, which remains mobilized several weeks after major demonstrations across France.

The head of state thus promised to bring together at the Elysée “all trade union organizations, all agricultural sectors” in three weeks. Here are the main commitments made by Emmanuel Macron on Saturday morning, during two meetings with farmer representatives at the Agricultural Show.

An emergency cash flow plan

“From next week”according to Emmanuael Macron, the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau and the Minister Delegate Agnès Pannier-Runacher, as well as the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, “will bring together the banks and also all sectors to be able to implement these cash flow plans” in order to support French farmers. The President of the Republic announced the launch of“a census in each region of farms which are in the greatest cash flow difficulties in order to be able to support them”.

Floor prices in each sector

The head of state formulated the objective “so we can get out” on “floor prices which will protect agricultural income”as part of the preparation of a new law governing relations between food stakeholders. “It’s the most engaging thing we’ve ever done.”said Emmanuel Macron.

These “floor prices” will be based on production cost indicators on which each sector (poultry, milk, beef, etc.) had to agree. These indicators already exist, but are not sufficiently taken into account for beef and milk, say the breeders. On the other hand, taking this indicator into account is almost automatic in poultry production. Emmanuel Macron clarified that he wants to make these indicators “opposable”.

The president’s announcement constitutes, according to the unions, a new commitment which would go beyond the Egalim legislative framework, supposed to guarantee the remuneration of producers and increased several times since 2018. Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had announced plans “by summer” to establish a new law to improve the remuneration of farmers.

Recognition as “major general interest”

Emmanuel Macron also committed to “recognize our agriculture and our food as a major general interest of the French nation”. “This will be enshrined in law, which will protect our agriculture in a firm and solid manner”promised the president.

Damien Greffin, one of the vice-presidents of the majority FNSEA union and a cereal producer in Essonne, told AFP on Friday that he wanted “hearing the president say that agriculture was of major general interest, which placed it above other interests”. A source within the executive clarified that such a mention implied “legal consequences”.

In its efforts to calm the anger of farmers, the government indicated that it had drawn, for example, from the bill proposed by senator LR Laurent Duplomb, who plans to declare “of major general interest” water reserves for irrigation. Gabriel Attal also said that the next agricultural law would devote agriculture “among the fundamental interests of the nation”.

Bans imposed at European level

The President of the Republic reiterated his desire to avoid a pesticide being banned in France before the rest of the European Union, to avoid distortions of competition. For this, he wishes that theNational Health Security Agency (Anses) follows the European calendar and therefore does not decree a ban in France before its neighbors. Bans are generally motivated by imperatives to protect human health and the environment.

As Emmanuel Macron pointed out, “I was not there [en 2014]but there was a law which entrusted powers which were to the Ministry of Agriculture to Anses”. “Anses works on a scientific basis (…) and therefore it makes decisions which are then imposed on the administration. (…) I can’t do anything about it”he defended himself. “And so we take back power by saying: ‘We’re doing it at European level’”he said.

An extension of the “right to make mistakes”

Among multiple government commitments on the simplification of standards and the relaxation of controls, Emmanuel Macron also told farmers that he wanted to extend the “right to make mistakes” in the agricultural world. “The right to make a mistake, I think it’s quite simple, is to say: ‘When I do something stupid once, they advise me, they help me to correct it’. If I do it twice time, it’s because I’m cheating”, he continued. A bill from MP Anne-Laure Blin, elected by the Republicans, exists in this sense. According to the president, “we haven’t managed to get this far” due in particular to restrictions linked to European law and environmental standards.