The damage caused by the bad weather reinforces the urgency of public intervention, according to the head of the cooperative.
The very heavy rains this spring have disrupted the wheat harvest, and the situation is serious for some farmers, as Thierry Blandinières, General Manager of InVivo, the largest agricultural cooperative, points out.
“The start of the school year is going to be difficult, with a 25% loss for farmers since world prices are not falling. It’s up to us to help them, I hope that aid will arrive with cash advances,” explains the manager on BFM Business.
Aid repeatedly requested by the FNSEA from the government. But the pending political situation has so far prevented their implementation, while part of it was provided for in the agricultural law adopted by the resigning executive.
The difficulty is the dissolution that occurred in July, at the time of the adoption of the agricultural law. This creates tensions: it is important that the new government acts to preserve this law. I hope that a deal has been made between the different parties to pass it,” analyzes Thierry Blandinières.
The political context is all the less stable as, at the same time, the renewal of European commissioners is still awaited.
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Greening fertilizers
In one of the important issues in the sector in recent years, energy, he notes an improvement, with a “drop in its cost”.
This could notably be reflected in the development of a new strategy in fertilizers, intended to green their production: the majority of fertilizers are not produced in France, and using fossil fuels such as gas and oil – which allow nitrogen to be synthesized and ammonia to be produced. The sector is one of the highest emitters in the world.
InVivo is once again calling for support from the authorities on this issue.
“It’s up to us to develop biodynamic and biocontrol projects. But there is a price gap and it would be good if public policies could provide compensation for at least the first 5 years. We are reaching out, we are buying 35% of fertilizers in France, we are capable of filling 3 factories.”
InVivo already benefits from support on the subject, since it has already obtained government funding for a low-carbon fertilizer plant project developed with hydrogen specialist FertigHy.
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