Pensions, climate, cash flow… what are the new measures unveiled by the government for farmers ?

88 % d’annonces mises en place, selon le gouvernement. MAXPPP – VALERY HACHE/POOL

Le gouvernement a rendu publiques ce samedi 27 avril 2024 des mesures "complémentaires" en faveur des agriculteurs, dans l’espoir de clore pour de bon la crise qui a provoqué des blocages exceptionnels au début de l’année et continue de couver chez les paysans.

Two months after a series of highly anticipated announcements, the government unveiled new measures in favor of farmers this Saturday, April 27, 2024. "The Prime Minister continues to be very mobilized for farmers", assured Matignon to BFMTV. "This new package of measures is sufficiently strong, substantiated, effective, to allow us to reach a phase which is no longer that of mobilizations."

14 measures

In February, Gabriel Attal held a press conference in which he detailed his government's measures, while 62 commitments had been made with agricultural union organizations. According to Matignon, "88 % of February announcements have been implemented".

This Saturday, the government unveiled 14 measures, some being the finalization of actions undertaken and others new additional announcements. Among them are the implementation from 2026 of measures on farmers' income and the change in the method of calculating agricultural pensions over the best 25 years.

The State will also set up new financing with Bpifrance of up to 100 million euros, cash loans of up to 100 million euros, and cash loans of up to 100 million euros. at 75,000 euros, and 200,000 euros for farms in difficulty. Tax exemptions are also provided.

Ecophyto for 2030

Another measure announced by the government: a new strategy of the Ecophyto plan for 2030 for reducing pesticides will be published at the beginning of May. A bill on this plan will be tabled before the end of the parliamentary session. A change in method denounced by several NGOs who criticize the European indicator for less clearly differentiating the harmfulness of pesticides.< /p>

On the subject of adaptation to global warming, a plan to support agriculture in the Pyrénées-Orientales, Aude and Hérault will be presented by Matignon. It will be allocated 50 million euros to help farmers who are most affected by climate change and to enable the development of local sectors.

In the event of a disaster, the government plans to increase the rate of property tax relief on undeveloped properties which indicates that the area concerned will not be strictly regional but rather geographical, where ;rsquo;applies the Mediterranean climate.

The government is also committed “to accelerating 100 agricultural projects for water storage or irrigation&nbsp ;so that they can be finalized by the end of 2024". Types of projects highly contested by environmental associations.