Following several warnings of a lack of funds for conversions to organic agriculture, French minister of agriculture Bruno Le Maire has announced an additional sum of €6m for 2010, bringing the yearly total dedicated to organic production to €100m, according to Actu-Environnement.
The France Nature Environnement (FNE) movement, which had predicted that 15-25 per cent of intended conversions could be put in peril by a shortfall in public financing, expressed its pleasure at the announcement.
'This is excellent news,' said FNE's Marie-Catherine Schulz. 'With the Grenelle commitment to triple France's organic production area by 2012 and the growing demand from consumers, France is finally catching up with other European countries.'
In 2009, an average of 10 farmers a day converted to organics, Mr Le Maire said. However, the first half of 2010 saw around 30 per cent more farmers converting than in the year-earlier period.
This growth could be attributed to the crisis in the conventional agriculture sector, with farmers' revenues dropping by some 34 per cent in 2009, following a drop of 20 per cent in 2008, according to figures from Biocoop.
