During the National Agricultural Accounts Committee (CCAN) which met on 10 January 2020, INSEE published provisional national agricultural accounts which confirmed an economic decline: a -7.8% drop in added value per worker, and -10.6% in the agricultural industry’s earnings per non-salaried worker. This decline is mainly due to difficulties in the wine industry, which had to deal with a historically poor harvest in 2019. Overall, for vegetables 2019 was characterised by significant variations in volume upwards (cereals) or downwards (oilseed), linked – as you might imagine – to the severe weather in 2019, but also for major crops due to the impact of bumper harvests worldwide, which had a negative effect on prices. In terms of livestock, battery farming is recovering thanks to increased pork exports to Asia – China in particular – which was significantly affected by the African swine fever epidemic.
Source: Chambers of agriculture