Leading figures within the French organic industry have reacted angrily to a decision by the French Government to slash funding for Agence Bio, the country’s lead organic label and advocacy body. 

The announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture that it would it cut €15 million of funding came just one day before Agence Bio began its 40th anniversary celebrations. Earlier this year the French Parliament voted controversially to support plans to dissolve Agence Bio, which the Agency’s director Laura Verdeau called a “brutal decision”, noting that support for the move had come mainly from “the senatorial right”. 

While the spending cuts announced this week might suggest that Agence Bio has secured a reprieve, some commentators say the budget cuts are so deep that they amount to “financial asphyxiation”. Others in the industry see the development as a politically motivated defunding of organic intended damage the sector and halt its recovery, after the market decline of the last few years. 

Writing on LinkedIn, Frédéric Faure, vice president of specialist organic retail chain Biocoop, said: “Just as the AB label is going to celebrate its 40th anniversary, the government has come up with a great gift idea – cutting off funding to Agence Bio. No official abolition… just a budget so reduced that if it continues like this, it’s Agence Bio that will be giving money to the State.”

Faure highlighted the economic shortsightedness of the cuts: “Agence Bio has payed a key role in supporting the organic market in France to grow from €5 billion to €12 billion in 10 years. Organic today supports 61,000 farms, 215,000 jobs, and 28,000 companies, and offers a concrete response to climate, health and agricultural challenges. While citizens are in favour of pesticide-free food, respectful of the environment and those who produce it, the government is shooting itself in the foot by targeting the agricultural model capable of ticking all these boxes.” 

The organic umbrella group Maison de la Bio condemned the removal of the entire funding for the “C’est Bio la France” campaign due to launch today to mark 40 years of the Agence Bio organic label. In a statement, it said: “These budget cuts put a sharp stop to the recovery dynamics observed in recent months. By weakening the organic agency, its structuring tools and its ability to speak to the French, the Government weakens the entire sector that employs tens of thousands of people and that meets a major societal expectation. We do not understand this growing gap between current political decisions and the expectations of the French.” 

Loïc Madeline, co-president of the National Federation of Organic Agriculture, told Le Monde: “By blocking the revival of consumption, it is above all organic farmers who are penalized. The ministry has just found €30 million to save the hazelnut sector which represents 350 farms in France, but its pockets are empty when it comes to the 60,000 organic farms that produce healthy food and protect resources.”