“The economic situation is not good”: the organic sector in southern Aveyron is suffering from a drop in customer interest

Les producteurs de lait bio sont inquiets pour leur avenir. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

Plusieurs producteurs de lait bio souffrent avec la filière d'un manque d'intérêt de la part des clients.

Is eating organic still relevant? ? It seems that consumption is falling overall in France. An effect that is felt directly by producers. In Aveyron, there are 1,126 of them, all sectors combined, to be certified organic. This makes it the second department in the Occitanie region, itself the first in France with 14,125 producers in 2023, according to data from the Organic Observatory.

A source of pride for some, particularly in the sheep sector, which is very well represented and characteristic of South Aveyron. In the department, 294 farms are certified organic (meat and milk). An increase of 3% between 2023 and 2022 for dairy farms and 11% for meat over the same period. Although the number of farms is increasing, there are points of tension between breeders and manufacturers who are less and less attracted to organic.

Declining sales

This is the case for Papillon Roqueforts, for whom the prices for October 2024 were still under discussion in the last few days of September. “Sales are collapsing, notes Sébastien Leclerq, director of Roquefort Papillon. We are at -22% and -25% for the years 2023 and 2024. The rate of transformation into organic is collapsing and it is extremely complicated.” While the Covid years were beneficial to this more local mode of consumption, this is no longer true today. The Organic Observatory confirms this with statistics. "The organic market has recorded several years of double-digit growth, he assures. Following this particular period, inflation and the conflict in Ukraine have significantly disrupted the markets and French household food spending is falling. Organic products are particularly affected: household purchases of organic food products for home consumption fell by 4.6% in 2022."

"We are being asked to stop organic"

And inevitably, among breeders, convinced by this method, this is causing discontent. "We received a letter telling us that the economic situation was not good,recognizes one of them, based not far from Saint-Rome-de-Tarn. We are being asked to change our contract and stop using organic milk and switch to conventional. We wonder where this is going to go. I don't want to change, it's a question of ethics."

The Confédération paysanne, a widely represented agricultural union, is also concerned about this situation. “The sheep milk industry is in a particularly difficult situation at the moment, and it is we, producers upstream of the industry, who are paying the high price, warned the union in a press release at the beginning of September. The economic crisis that organic farming is going through is multifactorial: inflation, drop in purchasing power, imports… Manufacturers cannot blame the producers alone for a market that is going badly. Other solutions exist to resist a market in crisis."

6% organic products at Papillon

Discussions about the price of milk were still taking place this week for Papillon. The company, bought by the Savencia group in 2019, now produces 6% organic products and collects 12% organic milk. “We wrote a letter to try to find a new compromise but we got negative feedback, adds Sébastien Leclerq. The price of milk is creating a point of tension. We are still negotiating prices for the next milk campaign.” It starts in October and the 19 producers of the organic group that Papillon works with are far from satisfied with this new situation, as they are so attached to the quality of their production.

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