Ministère de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation
French agri-food enjoys a trade surplus with the European Union and with other countries. Wine and cereals account for this favourable situation. However heavy demand persists for imported seafoods as well as for fruits and vegetables.
The levelling-off of crop yields is difficult to explain. Is it a durable situation or a temporary one ? A search for an economic optimum ? These questions remain unanswered.
French orchards shrank by 13% in area from 2002 to 2007. The loss is most noticeable in peach and pear trees. Walnuts are now the second largest crop.
Consumption of dairy products has declined since the end of the 1990’s. However, production grows thanks to exports.
The trend towards planting crops in unlaboured fields is expanding, because it saves time, lowers the cost of planting and reduces soil erosion. It is more common for winter crops than in spring.
Farmland in France offers greater potential for producing ethanol from wheat or beets than for producing rapeseed or sunflower oils to replace diesel fuel. All these crops will also provide co-products for use as animal feed.
Results for 2006 are an improvement over 2005. Collections, processing and production of fresh dairy products are doing well. But organic continues to account for only a very small part of dairy activity.
Average farm income grows by 12% in 2007. Price explosions in cereals and protein oilseeds increase revenues of grain farmers but penalise those of breeders. Poultry farmers do better.
Between 2003 and 2006, quantities of industrially produced livestock feed fall by 5% because of the avian crisis. Suppliers adapt and provide more rapeseed cakes.
The reduction in the number of small cooperatives is due to closings, but also to certain groupings that are realised to better resist the competition. Wine-making and cheese production continue to see a large number of mergers.
Ministère de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation