Business and the Agricultural Agenda in France
France is a semi-presidential republic in Western Europe. A founding member of the European Union, France uses the Euro as its official currency and has a gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$2.8 trillion (PPP). Likewise, France has experienced positive economic growth upwards of 1.0% in recent years and has a GDP per capita of approximately US$43.600. Moreover, France has a total population of about 67.1 million citizens and an average age of 41 years.
Business and the Agricultural Agenda in France
In spite of being an advanced economy in terms of manufacturing output and the services industry, France’s agricultural sector has historically been a central pillar of the state. Therefore, in January 2018, President Emmanuel Macron announced the proposal of a new law to revitalize the French agricultural sector. The draft of the new legislation, which will be debated and voted during the coming months, is focused on three pillars: farm income, agricultural trade, and sustainability.
Firstly, in order to boost the income of local and organic farms, the government is proposing a minimum price based on real production costs for dairy products, vegetables, and fruits. These minimum prices would be negotiated and agreed upon between major retail sellers and regional farmers. Furthermore, the intention of this law is to ensure fair trade and retail-pricing practices that properly remunerate local producers, ensure that products are not sold at artificially low prices, and ensure that locally grown produce is not held at a disadvantage. Secondly, the new legislation seeks to protect national producers as it relates to the negotiation of European Union free trade agreements, particularly with South America’s Mercosur trade bloc and with Turkey, in order to protect the French beef sector. Similarly, it seeks to achieve plant protein self-sufficiency by incentivizing the domestic production of soybeans and related products. Lastly, the draft legislation seeks to promote sustainability through a national ban on the use of glyphosate and a mandate reduction in the use of pesticides. Moreover, this third pillar seeks to require that 50% of all meals served in French public schools are organic, locally grown, and nationally certified as high-quality produce.
In terms of trade, France is the world’s sixth largest export economy. During 2016, the country imported US$540 billion worth of goods and exported US$485 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of US$55 billion. Furthermore, France’s main export, representing 9.3% or US$45 billion of the country’s total in 2016, were planes, helicopters, and spacecraft. Similarly, the country’s main import that same year, representing 5.9% or US$31.7 billion of all international purchases, were cars. Meanwhile, France’s main trading partners are fellow EU members, such as Germany, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States.
Simultaneously, land distribution in France has evolved throughout the last half century. Back in 1961, arable land in the country covered 19.6 million hectares, while permanent pastures and meadows represented 13.1 million hectares and permanent crops accounted for 1.8 million hectares. More recently, by 2015, arable land had decreased to 18.5 million hectares, while permanent pastures and meadows represented 9.3 million hectares and permanent crops covered 986.300 hectares.
(Read more about Trade and Economics in Costa Rica during 2018)