Midi Libre event: Minister Marc Fesneau, in front of 20 farmers from Hérault and Gard, what to remember from this meeting ?

Marc Fesneau in front of around twenty farmers from the region. A sometimes technical debate but always rich after the agricultural crisis. ME.

The Minister of Agriculture met twenty professionals, representative of agricultural diversity in Languedoc-Roussillon. A debate lasting more than an hour where there were a lot of questions about income, simplification and standards, water… and thanks, too, for the latest announcements in favor of the agricultural world .

During his trip to Montpellier last November to meet angry wine growers, the Minister of Agriculture promised to return to the department & ;quot;before the end of January". The agricultural crisis postponed his visit for a few days, but Marc Fesneau came this Friday, February 2 to Hérault "at the meeting you of the promises that had to be kept for viticulture", he recalled.

On the program, among other things, an event meeting with twenty farmers from the former Languedoc-Roussillon in the premises of Midi Libre. More than an hour of discussion, debate, which allowed the minister to provide after-sales service for Gabriel Attal's announcements to calm agricultural anger. But also to stack new files to put on his desk to respond to issues just as important as those revealed during the demonstrations of the last few days.

"Now that we've opened the hood, we need to get into the engine"

Proof that everything has not been settled, one of them was often mentioned by the various speakers… and repeated many times by the minister himself: "simplification". "I'm not a barker, I'm trying to say what we can do and what is complicated", assured Marc Fesneau , implying that this was sometimes, often, played out at the European level. "There is something wrong in the CAP in terms of complexities. Now that we have opened the hood, we need to go into the engine, he defended, taking the example controls now carried out by artificial intelligence and satellites, without this exempting farmers from time-consuming administrative declarations. 

Marc Fesneau, relaxed but educational in front of the farmers. ME.

"We must seize this moment of simplification"

But the need for simplification is sometimes also Franco-French, particularly in the regions for everything relating to the sensitive subject of water. David Drilles, winegrower in the Pyrénées-Orientales, spoke of a hill reservoir project blocked for eight years, finally released in four months "thanks" to the drought which is hitting the department. Philippe Boisson, president of the Onions sweet des Cévennes cooperative, recounted his difficulties in putting together a request for rainwater storage. Yvon Pellet, vice-president of the Department of Hérault, railed against the standards which impose more than one year of study on " corny" before launching a winter water retention project from the Rhône, "while winegrowers say that without water, they die in three years". The minister heard all these arguments, and even became annoyed at "a tragic “agencialization” of the State'. "If a hill reservoir project is completed in four months, it is because it was a good project. We must seize this moment of simplification, he repeated several times, aware that the water issue is vital in this territory."There will be an arrhythmia, we know that. Let's authorize storage, let's consider the subject in the transition work, said Marc Fesneau again, promising collaborative work on all these subjects with his counterpart from the Environment.

"My job is to limit production costs"

A little earlier, Marc Fesneau had also been questioned on the problem of the profession's income. "We have a 2% margin when above of us, they make 40%. We need to find out where this price problem comes from", urged Marie Durand-Hulak, who has just launched into viticulture and the sheep industry. "Remuneration is the difference between production costs and the price. My job is to limit these costs, in particular by initiating a reflection  on standards. But the question of price is also a debate of public opinion", replied the minister, saying he hoped that agricultural anger would have allowed to open the minds of consumers. To a question from Gard arborist Florence Robichon on the difficulties of obtaining credits to replant trees ravaged by hail, the minister promised to initiate a reflection on aid in the face of climatic hazards and the farm transition. "We have put resources on the table, but they must be mobilized".

The debates continued, often technical, but always rich. For example around the Egalim law, which requires adaptation for certain sectors, as requested by the president of the national horticultural association, Héraultaise Marie Levaux. "We talk about food sovereignty, but it is a global agricultural sovereignty that we should talk about. Horticulture can be a very beautiful model of sovereignty, we need to rethink things", replied Marc Fesneau.

Around twenty people, representatives of regional agriculture, challenged the minister. ME.

Help… and requests

The minister also left with requests from the world of beef and shellfish farmers blocked in certain projects by the coastal law. He also took the opportunity to recall the decisions taken this week on the temporary withdrawal, the emergency aid whose counters will open "from the start of next week : MHE, viticulture. On the GNR, it's 230 M€ of cash which will arrive on farms from the month of February". Announcements which earned him thanks from several farmers, like the Hérault resident Brigitte Cingla, president of the association of breeders of d' Occitanie and last speaker of the evening. In passing, she still questioned the minister on "small ruminants. We lost two thirds of the livestock in a few years", she recalled, evoking the issues of a free trade agreement or a large stock of 12,000 tonnes of wool waiting. "There are a host of subjects, we need to work on your competitiveness", recognized the minister. Barely out of the crisis, Marc Fesneau will get back to work.