Finally, I would like to thank the Croft Institute for International Studies, the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, and the Luckyday Program for allowing me to receive one of the best undergraduate educations possible. The growth of organic farming has taken place all over the world to varying degrees over the last few decades. The French have always had a strong connection to agriculture, food and the preservation of tradition, so organic farming has a visible presence throughout the country due to its connection to these ideals.
I conclude that organic farming in France is definitely on the rise and shows clear signs of growth in the coming years due to consumer interest and government support. This documentary, which spurred this project, touches on many of the issues more thoroughly explored in this thesis, including the context of organic farming development, arguments for promoting it, problems it faces, and forecasts for its future. Despite its buzzword status, organic farming is still a surprisingly small part of the goods produced in France, with only 3.8 percent of utilized agricultural land devoted to it.
During those two weeks I gained first-hand experience of the production, distribution and marketing processes of this small, rural farm. My goal with this project is to provide as complete a picture as possible of French organic agriculture.
The History of French Organic Farming
These innovations laid the foundation for tractors, mills and other agricultural machinery that are practically necessary in today's agricultural practice. Fertilizer produced from ammonia produced by the Haber process is estimated to be responsible for sustaining one-third of the Earth's population (Wolfe, 88). 1 The law of the minimum states that growth is not controlled by the total amount of available resources, but rather by the scarcest resource.
He believed in the existence of “living particles” associated with DNA that switch between healthy and bad states based on the condition of the soil and water (18). According to the Association Romande de Biodynamie, this process largely focuses on the quality of the soil, and involves a very specific procedure. She is best known for her book The Living Soil, published in 1943, and her creation of The Soil Association in 1946 (Gill, 1).
Although France devotes more than half of its territory, including overseas territories, to agriculture in general, only 3.5 percent of the population is employed in this sector. In the 1970s, the organic movement quickly gained ground in France due to increasingly widespread concerns about pollution and the limitation of natural resources.
Organic Farming Legislation
Variability was a growing concern regarding the farms that produced the items and theirs. Organic products are typically more expensive than conventional products, potentially several times more expensive, so some distributors took advantage of the situation and designated their products as organic or a similar derivative in order to charge more for them. Agriculture/Non-EU” with the option to set the specific country if at least 98 percent of the materials originate from the country in question.
The Europe 2020 plan and the Lisbon plan, which aim to improve the European economy as a whole ("The post-2013 Common Agricultural Policy"). Some of the most important components of these policies are the government subsidies to farmers and the agricultural market and the support programs that accompany the financial support. The 2013 seminar focused on the dynamics of development with the participation of Food and.
The meeting discussed issues such as continued research into determining the level of economic, environmental and social impacts of organic farming and the revision of the 2004 European Action Plan for Organic Agriculture and EC No. Eva Joly, who ran for the European Écologie-Les Verts (EELV) party, pushed for ecological transformation of the economy and is known for its bright red glasses, which she replaced with green during her campaign. While he is by no means against organic, he is more focused on improving the overall health of the people and the economy, even through traditional agriculture (“Le Discours…”, 1-2).
The global market value for organic farming was estimated at almost $63 billion (an increase of $4 billion from 2010). France comprises almost a quarter of organic food processors in the EU and accounts for 19 percent of European organic consumption. Europe ranks second in the world in organic land area with 29 percent, trailing Oceana, which has 33 percent of the world's organic farmland.
EC Regulation 2092/91 made trade between European countries and those outside the EU easier due to strict regulations and uniformity between them. 11 Spain's organic industry grew rapidly due to increased cereal production and the fact that 80 percent of organic crops are exported. These rules are an increasingly important part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and will be reevaluated at least every four years in order to meet the updated demands of the world market (Schmid, 155-158).
Reasons For Organic
The profile is constantly changing as product availability changes, allowing for a wider range of not only products but also marketing channels. The table below is a concise representation of the relationships between the reasons for consuming organic food in France between 2004 and 2012. In other words, those who participated in the study gave more equal importance to all choices, rather than having a single factor as their source incentives.
The three lower categories—the safety and security of healthy products, the quality and taste of the products, and the preservation of the environment—are extremely closely ranked. These cancer rates are higher among the farmers and their families than the rest of the population due to their more direct exposure to the chemicals. While the aspect of health is mainly aimed at the people who consume the food, it is also a major concern for the health of the animals and plants.
It is a growing point of interest to have, for example, free-range cows and chickens because people have become more aware of the terrible conditions in the factories and mega-farms. Rachel Carson and her research into the effects of the chemical DDT, as mentioned in Chapter I, strongly spurred this movement. An additional motivation that is one of the primary reasons why people choose to buy organic products is a perceived improvement in quality or taste.
This is a farm, more than likely organic, run and managed by a group of town members, not just one family or business. Bové is head of the Confédération Paysanne, the second largest farmers' union in France. She also wrote a book of the same name and later won the Rachel Carson Award.
While the documentary is not able to reveal all of Monsanto's secrets, it definitely illuminates and exposes some of the most dramatic and problematic issues the company has caused (Robin). As the information in the chart at the beginning of the chapter shows, there are many possible drivers of the mean. It is interesting to note that many of the same ideals motivate people around the world, which may be a good indicator of the spread of ever-improving methods for farming.
Criticisms of Organic Farming
To combat this, many institutions that are among the pioneers of the movement have basic standards that guide them. Some of the major brands sold in the store include Earthbound Farms and Grimmway Farms, which owns Cal-Organic, another major brand sold in Whole. One of the several criticisms of organic agriculture in relation to the environment is the use of pesticides.
To fertilize organic crops, farmers often use animal manure, manure or green manure, and the use of these products can create an imbalance in the nutritional quality of the soil, especially for phosphorus levels. One of the most widespread arguments against organic farming is its cost, and the high prices can be attributed to a number of factors. The supply of organic products is limited, which increases the price of goods.
In 2012, 77 percent of those interviewed who do not buy organic declared that they chose not to because of the increased prices (“La Bio en France…,” 14). One of the major works regarding opposition to organic farming in general and for France in particular is Bio: Fausses Promesses et Vrai Marketing by Gil Rivière-Wekstein, published in 2011. Furthermore, he says that many of the same people as well as other groups use language, that evokes apocalyptic feelings.
The results are shown as a percentage of people who answered affirmatively that the cause mentioned is one they follow. Certainly not all parts of the world can produce the same kind of goods in the same way. Most of the innovators promoted the practices of vegetarianism, ruralism, religiosity, and a return to earlier techniques.
The graph below is one of the best indicators of the growth of organic practice in France. It is also becoming a bigger part of eating places outside the home, such as restaurants, hospitals, schools, nursing homes and holiday centres. But there is also considerable support from the government, which is one of the biggest factors in the growth of the industry.
A comparison of the effects of three GM maize varieties on mammalian health. International Journal of Biological Sciences. Launch of the Organic Ambition 2017 program to restructure the French organic farming sector.” France in the United States: Embassy of France in Washington.
