“Something irreversible”: the government promises 725 million euros for “future projects” in agriculture that it will monitor “like milk on fire”

The Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, recognized this from the outset: budget requires, we are far from the major planning of the 50s and 60s. But after having granted in September a billion euros to the agricultural emergency plan known as "Casi", the government is mobilizing another 725 million euros for a longer-term revival of the sector, hit by the consequences of the climate crisis and geopolitical upheavals. When the Prime Minister presented this recovery plan in mid-October, he mentioned between 500 and 700 million euros, including credits which are already in the 2027 draft budget.

The Minister of Agriculture detailed this recovery plan on Thursday: 100 million to “supply an equipment window” so that farmers can “more easily purchase different tools to protect animals and crops against high heat”, 100 million euros dedicated to guaranteeing one billion euros of loans in order to “enable sustainable adaptation of farms”, 60 million to extend into 2027 the agricultural hydraulic fund, a national device created as part of the water plan. 2025 to finance climate adaptation. 400 million euros will also be used to support “projects for the future” meeting a dual objective: strengthening French food sovereignty and the adaptation of French agriculture to climate change. Supported for years by Young Farmers, these projects were enshrined in the “agricultural emergency law” adopted before the summer.

Loans guaranteed at 80% by the State As part of the Conferences on Food Sovereignty which have been held for a year - and which the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, officially closed today - around 900 project intentions, of varying sizes, have been identified. The government promises a first wave of certification before December 30. The impact study of the agricultural emergency law mentioned a target of around fifty from 2027.

The State will watch over these projects “like milk on the fire and over time”, promised Annie Genevard. They will benefit from several support mechanisms. The government undertakes in particular to devote between 200 and 300 million euros to guaranteeing 80% of bank loans and proposes in the finance bill an additional amortization of 40%.

It still promises some 17 million euros mobilized from 2027 from the regions for investments in these projects as well as 200 million in equity and 150 million in grants from France 2030. 10 million euros will finally be devoted to "improving the robustness" of projects not yet labeled. Private investors will nevertheless remain "the primary financiers" of these projects, admitted Annie Genevard, who is counting on their labeling to attract this capital too.

The obstacle of approving the budget The government hopes to leave the post-presidential executive with "something irreversible", explained Sébastien Lecornu, who compared this exercise to that of annual energy planning. He promises to accompany it with "liberation measures": "all of the decrees implementing the agricultural emergency law (strongly awaited by the professional unions, editor's note) will be adopted before Christmas", he assured. Two obstacles nevertheless persist, concedes the government.

To truly release part of the promised 725 million euros, "Parliament must endorse the finance bills for management and for next year", he recalled. The social acceptability on the ground of some of the projects which will be labeled (expanding livestock farms, water storage for example) also remains a stone in the executive's shoe. Annie Genevard explained that she was relying on a “particularly territorialized procedure (labelling, editor’s note)” to remove this obstacle.

Machine-translated from French