Ministère de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation
Large stocks and low output prices for French apples during the 1999-2000 growing season. Difficulties in selling have been made worse by smaller sales to the United Kingdom.
Grasslands and arable lands are up 5 % ; prices for AOC vineyards grow by 10 %, and there is a first 2 % increase for other vineyards. The revival in agricultural land prices intensifies in 1999.
Because they don’t have sufficient land to increase their herds, large-scale pig breeders are entrusting some of their animals to small producers. This practice is developing especially in Brittany.
Turnover remains stable, and exports are down again for agribusiness firms in 1999. Investments are up 5 %, and recourse to interim workers continues.
The modification in farming land comes mainly from the abandonment of the least profitable lands and from the extension of cities. Farmlands are being divided and pasturelands are being planted in annual crops.
In France, as in the rest of Europe, farm income per worker falls in 1999. This drop concerns all types of farming except wine growing and can be seen in three out of four départements. On the whole, there has been a somewhat upward trend since 1995.
The adaptation of crops to the 1992 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy has been rapid. Colza has expanded thanks to non-food markets, and soft wheat has overcome barley. Proteaginous peas and sunflowers have declined.
Forested areas are spreading at the expense of moors, unutilised agricultural land and farmlands. The timber cut amounts to only 60 % of annual wood production. The Storm of 1999 felled the equivalent of three harvests. The 2000 edition of La forêt et les industries du bois provides an update.
Industry uses more than a third of the butter produced in France, thanks to European subsidies. Subsidised use of other dairy products like powdered milk or casein remains limited. Smaller quantities of dairy products are disposed of through food aid programmes.
Imports increased by 13 % in 1999. They now represent almost one-seventh of the French market. The greatest competition for the national production comes from pressed-curd cheeses. Although the trade surplus is down 5 %, it remains quite strong.
Ministère de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation