Market gardeners, wine growers and arborists are now included in the list of professions in tension by a decree published this Saturday March 2 in the Official Journal. A satisfaction for the FNSEA 13 which had been asking for this measure for several years in the face of the labor shortage.
Part of the agricultural sector is recognized as a profession in shortage. Good news for agriculture in the Paca region, and particularly market gardeners in Bouches-du-Rhône or wine growers in Vaucluse faced with a chronic lack of workers to work on farms. While on the eve of the closure of the Salon de l’Agriculture, angry farmers are maintaining pressure on the government, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau announced this Saturday March 2 on the social network “four professional familiesare now considered to be professions in shortage throughout the metropolitan territory. Which professions are affected? What will this change? France 3 Provence-Alpes tells you what you need to know about the professions added to the decree of April 1, 2021 on professions in tension, updated this Saturday in the Official Journal.
The Government is meeting its commitments.
The decree updating the list of professions in shortage has just been published.
Four professional families are now considered to be professions in tension throughout the metropolitan territory (farmers… pic.twitter.com/W1qsl29m9K— Marc Fesneau (@MFesneau) March 2, 2024
What is a job in tension?
Professions in tension are those which encounter difficulties in recruiting workers. Farmers are particularly struggling to find workers. Representatives of the sector assure that 30% additional students should be trained, according to franceinfo. Hard work, lack of training, low pay, etc. these sectors lack attraction.
The shortage of labor sometimes forces farmers to throw away part of their production. Faced with this phenomenon, which has only gotten worse in recent years, the government has decided to add to the list of professions in tension: salaried farmers, salaried breeders, salaried market gardeners and horticulturists, salaried wine growers and orchardists.
How does the FDSEA 13 at the origin of this request react?
“This is what we have been asking for loud and clear for three and a half years,” reacted Romain Blanchard, the president of the FDSEA13 to France 3 Provence-Alpes, we are very satisfied, we needed it, but we remain a little disappointed to have needed a national decree when it was normally the prerogatives of our regional prefect”.
Mainly affected in Paca, “specialized” agriculture, which requires a lot of labor, is particularly affected, such as market gardening, arboriculture and viticulture. The FDSEA 13 estimates that there is a shortage of 3,500 foreign seasonal workers to run farms in the department.
What will this decree change?
“Companies from the four professional families concerned will be able to recruit foreign workers from outside the European Union without the employment situation being adverse to them”, indicates the decree. This measure will allow them to accelerate the hiring of non-European workers, by removing the obligation to publish an advertisement.
“Before, to be able to recruit a foreign employee, we had to publish an offer to France Travail and justify that there were no French people who had responded to it,” explains Romain Blanchard. A long procedure which could have serious consequences.
We were wasting a lot of time, when it’s time to prune the apricot trees or thin the apple trees, it can’t be postponed, a month later, it’s too late.
Romain Blanchard, president FDSEA13France 3 Provence-Alpes
This decree follows the promulgation of the new immigration law on January 26, which establishes a residence permit for foreign workers in professions in shortage. L’Article L. 435-4 of CESEDA makes it possible to regularize foreigners who wish to carry out a salaried professional activity in France, in one of the professions and geographical areas characterized by recruitment difficulties. Agriculture is now a sector also affected by the scope of this new article.
Why did the government issue this decree?
Faced with the anger of farmers, the government announced a train of measurements, on the eve of the opening of the Agricultural Show. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a consultation in order to include in the list of professions in tension, agricultural professions struggling to recruit.
To appease the agricultural unrest, the government initiated a consultation of social partners on February 23 and the Minister of Agriculture undertook to publish this decree “by March 2”. More than 400 million euros in emergency measures have also been announced. The government also promised a shock of simplification, the strengthening of Egalim laws to protect the income of farmers and who placed agriculture to the rank of “major general interest”. The agricultural unions finally have a meeting with Emmanuel Macron in mid-March, before the presentation of an agricultural orientation law in the spring.