Support French agriculture, yes, but at what cost?

Less than a year after the first act, farmers are relaunching their national mobilization from Monday, November 18. Although most French people surveyed would like to consume local products to support them, inflation and their declining purchasing power constitute a brake.

They are counterattacking for the G20 summit… The majority agricultural unions are launching a national mobilization, starting Monday, November 18, against the importation of food products from Mercosur (Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, Bolivia) . During two days in Rio, the free trade treaty will be negotiated between the countries concerned and the European Union.

But in France, farmers are counting on the support of public opinion. At the start of 2024, their mobilization had been approved by 87% of French people according to a study by the Elabe cabinet for BFM TV. But what efforts would consumers be willing to make to guarantee the survival of French agriculture?

For Clément, 42, the answer is simple. He reduced his meat consumption from once a day to two meals a week. “I now prioritize the quality of the meat, even if it means paying more for it in the butcher's shop. It's my way of supporting farmers“, explains the plumber-heating engineer, in a shopping mall on the outskirts of Caen. For a piece of beef or a free-range chicken, he spends around 10 euros more than in a supermarket.

I drastically reduced my meat consumption and only bought it from my butcher.

Clément

Plumber-heating engineer

If meat products remain the main item of household food expenditure, the share dedicated to fresh butcher's meat decreased by 17% between 2009 and 2019, according to INSEE. In France, households dedicate 20% of their budget to food. A budget share that has been generally stable since the end of the 1990s, rising to 22% in 2022 during a period of high inflation.

Paying 1 euro more for your kilo of potatoes to support French agriculture, Emmanuel is not against it. “But we don’t always have before our eyes what we would like to eat“, notes the fifty-year-old, accustomed to hard-discount stores. In store, like this Tuesday morning, he selects his fruits and vegetables by their appearance, based on the quality-price ratio.

Same observation for Cyriella, a stay-at-home mother with four dependent children. “Unfortunately, I look at the prices. I choose French fruits when I can but vegetables sometimes cost three times more than imported ones”regrets the young woman, encountered at the exit of a supermarket. For her, “having the possibility of French consumption would be more logical to support farmers”.

Consumption of local food products is higher among households in the CSP+ socio-professional category and the elderly.

Louis Lebredonchel

Researcher at the University of Caen

Over the past ten years, support for growers and breeders has been the number one reason consumers buy local. “In addition to this form of food patriotism, there is the confidence that the French place in farm products which they consider to be of better quality. Finally, some also make this choice out of ecological sensitivity”explains Louis Lebredonchel, researcher at the University of Caen and specialist in food and health.

Laurence has been buying her vegetables at the market for years and she sometimes goes to get them from the Hermanville farm, tens of kilometers from Caen. Direct sales allow him to meet small local farmers and ensure the origin of the products. “In Normandy, we really have a wide choice of vegetables. I sometimes allow myself the luxury of buying organic but it is generally much more expensive,” testifies the laboratory technician, opposed to the use of pesticides.

Like Laurence, supermarket shopping is an old story for Justine. She only goes there on rare occasions: “I consume everything short-circuit, except for household productssmiles the 32-year-old web designer, leaving a store in downtown Caen. My food budget has exploded but I consider it a bias to eat more healthily.” A freedom that the young woman gained at the same time as her financial independence.

The Mercosur summit, organized in Uruguay on December 5 and 6, could well seal this free trade treaty in negotiation since 1999. Unless the mobilization of the FNSEA and Jeunes Agri, supported by public opinion, reverses the course of the discussions.