WillAgri
In an iconoclastic report presented to the French senate, senators Alain Houpert and Yannick Botrel stress the lack of transparency in pro-organic public policies and the grey areas in a sector in which they say the arguments have never been debated fully. For instance, the Ambition Bio 2022 programme presented by agriculture minister Stéphane Travert in 2018 envisages turning 15% of usable agricultural area (UAA) over to organic farming by 2022. According to the report, this aim is unattainable. Currently, the area used for organic farming accounts for just 7.5% of UAA. Moreover, the actual figure is probably only 2.6% because 60% of the land area officially used for organic agriculture is covered by forage areas and permanent grasslands. Generating annual revenues of €10 billion, the organic sector boils down, the authors of the report say, to slogans and PR. Although they do not criticise organic food production, the authors stress that we do not know enough about its effects on the environment, health and productivity.
Source: Le Point