Background
The Fรฉdรฉration Nationale des Syndicats dโExploitants Agricoles (FNSEA) is Franceโs largest agricultural union.1Aude Mazoue. โFranceโs unprecedented drought shows climate change is โspiralling out of controlโ,โ France 24, May 11, 2022. Archived November 12, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/EMUKg
Founded in 1946, the group represents 212,000 individual members, 21,000 local syndicates, and dozens of regional and county-level farming federations, as well as specialized trade bodies representing farmers and growers in specific agricultural sectors including grains, milk, and meat.2โQui Sommes Nous?,โ FNSEA. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/BNBor
According to its website, FNSEAโs objectives are to โfight to support French farmers in their projectsโ and โcarry the voice of farmers in European and international bodies.โ3โQui Sommes Nous?,โ FNSEA. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/BNBor
FNSEA describes itself as โthe spearheadโ of European agriculture, referring to its emergence as a leading voice influencing the development of the sector, particularly the EUโs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).4โNotre histoire,โ FNSEA. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/PMcY1
France is the largest agricultural producer in the European Union.5โAgricultural output of the EU down by 1% in 2020,โ Eurostat, November 15, 2021. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/WKKxV It is considered one of the two most powerful member states within the EU, alongside Germany.6Ulrich Krotz and Joachim Schild. โFrance and Germany will dominate the EU after Brexit โ but they wonโt go unchallenged,โ LSE, January 30, 2019. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/MwDpM
FNSEA has a strong influence on the French agricultural system and related government policies. French Agricultural Minister Julien Denormandie has praised a “relationship of trust and reciprocityโ between the government and the union.7โCongrรจs de la FNSEA : lโaction de Julien Denormandie saluรฉe Christiane Lambert,โ Agri 72, March 29, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5GWnA
FNSEA has emphasized the importance of pesticides to French farmers, and has been critical of Franceโs attempts to reduce pesticide use. The unionโs positions are that โviableโ, โaffordableโ alternatives are not available, and that France has historically had stronger targets on pesticide reductions than other EU member states โ which, FNSEA contends, has damaged the competitiveness of French farmers within the EU.
In 2020, FNSEA published a manifesto which included โthe reduction of phytosanitary products when alternatives for the protection of plants exist at an acceptable cost.โ The document emphasized โnot leaving farmers without an alternativeโ and called for โno ban without [a] solution.โ It also stated that โFrance and the European Union must ensure consistency between their environmental and climate policy and their trade policy, particularly in the agricultural sector, in order to avoid distortions of competition.โ8โManifeste pour une souverainetรฉ alimentaire solidaire UNE ALIMENTATION POUR TOUS DANS LE RESPECT DE LA PLANรTE,โ FNSEA, May 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pNTAQ
FNSEA has lobbied for less regulation of French agriculture. In 2015, then-president of FNSEA Xavier Beaulin stated in an interview that the country should โstop running this unbearable regulatory machine for farmers,โ in response to a comment from the interviewer that FNSEAโs objective was โto bring down French regulations in the field of agriculture.โ9Laure Noualhat. โXavier Beulin : ยซ Nous sommes prรชts ร moins de pesticides, mais oรน sont les solutions alternatives ? ยป,โ terraeco, February 20, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/oy94y
FNSEA has repeatedly opposed the Farm to Fork Strategy (F2F), the EUโs flagship initiative to make farming in the EU less environmentally destructive. FNSEA has termed F2F a โdegrowth strategyโ and argued that the strategyโs โfundamental logicโ should be questioned.10โConsรฉquences de la Guerre en Ukraine : lโUnion Europรฉenne doit remettre la souverainetรฉ alimentaire en prioritรฉ absolue,โ FNSEA, March 2, 2022. Archived June 13, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5Te6Q
The union has also taken a pro-โinnovationโ stance, such as calling in 2020 for โa legal framework in favor of new breeding techniques (targeted mutagenesis, genome editing, etc.).โ11โManifeste pour une souverainetรฉ alimentaire solidaire,โ FNSEA, 2020. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pNTAQ
In 2019, FNSEA worked with the National Gendarmerie โ a branch of Franceโs Armed Forces focused on law enforcement among the civilian population โ to set up a special unit to combat โagribashing.โ12Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L This gendarmerie unit focused not only on crime but also โactions of an ideological nature,โ or โactions de nature idรฉologique.โ In February 2022 a French court declared this sort of surveillance illegal.13Mathilde Gรฉrard et Stรฉphane Foucart. โLa cellule Dรฉmรฉter, surveillant les ยซ atteintes au monde agricole ยป, est en partie dans lโillรฉgalitรฉ selon la justice administrative,โ Le Monde, February 2, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3ipTl Environmental organizations have claimed that they were surveilled and interrogated by the unit.14Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L
The union is also a member of farming trade body COPA-COGECA. FNSEAโs former President Christiane Lambert was elected as President of COPA in 2020.15“About COPA,โ COPA-COGECA. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/fio58
FNSEA lobbies EU decision makers directly as well as through COPA-COGECA.16โQui sommes nous?,โ FNSEA. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/BNBor 17โCopa Members,โ Copa-Cogeca. Archived May 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/u9KVB 18โFNSEA,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/e5ybD
This includes lobbying on key measures within the EUโs Green Deal and its Farm to Fork Strategy, both of which are central to Brusselsโ plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, transform the agricultural system, and address the biodiversity crisis.19โConseil administration,โ FNSEA. Archived May 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/y6Yjj
FNSEA has strong ties with the agribusiness industry. Transparency advocacy group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) states that FNSEA is โdominated internally by both large, export-oriented crop growers, and agribusinesses.โ20โFNSEA, Franceโs agribusiness war machine in the name of farmersโ defence,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, October 9, 2020. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rLdb7
FNSEAโs former President Xavier Beulin was President of Avril, โthe 5th largest French agro-industrial group.โ21“Xavier Beulin, President of French Farmerโs Union FNSEA died,” LinkedIn. Archived August 17, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 22โGroup,โ Groupe Avril. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/IYaOP
In April 2023, Arnaud Rousseau was elected president of FNSEA.23Jade Peychieras, โQui est Arnaud Rousseau, le nouveau patron de la FNSEA ?,โ France Bleu, April 13 2023. Archived July 15 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wCUFL Rousseau is administrator or manager of around fifteen companies, holding companies and farms.24Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9 Since 2017, he has been president of French oilseed and biofuel producer Avril.25Jade Peychieras, โQui est Arnaud Rousseau, le nouveau patron de la FNSEA ?,โ France Bleu, April 13 2023. Archived July 15 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wCUFLย
He is also mayor of his commune,26Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9 Trocy-en-Multien, vice-president of the French โself-governing public bodiesโ Chamber of Agriculture of the รle-de-France region, and vice-president of the industry group FOP (French Federation of Oilseed and Protein Producers).27Amรฉlie Poinssot, โLa rรฉmunรฉration hors norme dโArnaud Rousseau, prรฉsident de la FNSEA, ร la tรชte du groupe Avril,โ Mรฉdiapart, February 29, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
According to campaign group Greenpeace, he โchecks all the boxes to continue with a conservative vision of agriculture, where productivism and agribusiness dominateโ.28ade Peychieras, โQui est Arnaud Rousseau, le nouveau patron de la FNSEA ?,โ France Bleu, April 13 2023. Archived July 15 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wCUFL Although he defends French agriculture as important for food sovereignty, the French journal LโHumanitรฉ claims that most of his farms grow crops for export.29Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9
He has been criticised by French journal LโHumanitรฉ for not representing the interests of small scale farmers in France.30Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9 In 2022, he was paid 187,000 euros by Avril, which French investigative journal Mediapart noted is ten times higher than the average French farmerโs income.31Amรฉlie Poinssot, โLa rรฉmunรฉration hors norme dโArnaud Rousseau, prรฉsident de la FNSEA, ร la tรชte du groupe Avril,โ Mรฉdiapart, February 29, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
In 2017, French media outlet Basta suggested that there were strong ties between FNSEA and agricultural cooperatives selling large quantities of pesticides. Basta highlighted the example of Triskalia, an agricultural cooperative with a turnover of 1.9 billion euros, whose โmost profitable activity [was] the sale of phytosanitary productsโ such as chemical pesticides.32Sophie Chapelle. โPourquoi la FNSEA est-elle accro au glyphosate?,โ basta!, October 25, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wTryu
It also referenced InVivo, โthe leading French cooperative group,โ which was said to hold investments in pesticide companies. The article quoted the director of the companyโs agricultural division: โIf the chemical giants are turning away from the European market, it is up to the agricultural cooperatives to ensure the development of phytosanitary products for their members.โ
InVivoโs former president Philippe Mangin held a position in the Grand-Est branch of FNSEA after leaving the cooperative.33Barnabรฉ Binctin. โLa FNSEA a pris le pouvoir sur lโagriculture dans les rรฉgions,โ Reporterre, January 6, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GIBwI
FNSEAโs ties with the agribusiness sector have been criticized. In 2020, Corporate Europe Observatory called FNSEA โFranceโs agribusiness war machine,โ and stated that โfor decades the union has embraced the industrialisation of agriculture.โ34โFNSEA, Franceโs agribusiness war machine in the name of farmersโ defence,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, October 9, 2020. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rLdb7
Stance on Climate Change
In a climate strategy released in September 2020, FNSEA called climate change โone of the biggest concerns of our times.โ In the document, FNSEA stated that farming should be โpart of the solutionโ to climate change, by helping society to adapt to and mitigate its worst effects. The strategy expressed FNSEAโs support for the EUโs goal to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.35Henri Bies-Pรฉrรฉ, Hervรฉ Lapie, Joรซl Limousin, Olivier Dauger. โFaire du dรฉfi climatique une opportunitรฉ pour lโagriculture: Rapport dโorientation 2020,โ FNSEA, September 10, 2020. Archived May 24, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
However, FNSEA emphasized that emissions targets should not โweigh on [the EUโs] competitivenessโ or โlead to the export of GHG emissions.โ
Stance on Farm to Fork Strategy
FNSEA has been a vocal opponent of the Farm to Fork Strategy, the EUโs flagship initiative to reduce agriculture-related pollution and impacts on biodiversity. F2F includes major sustainability targets, such as a 50 percent reduction in the use of chemical pesticides and 20 percent reduction in fertilizer use by 2030, as well as an expanding organic farming to 25 percent of all agricultural land use by 2030.
In March 2022, Christine Lambert was quoted in an article saying of Farm to Fork, โDestroying our agriculture and then importing carbon is not responsible.โ36Mรฉriadec Raffray. โLa stratรฉgie ยซ Farm to Fork ยป mort-nรฉe?,โ LโOpinion, March 30, 2022. Archived December 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/nrNTH
In its 2021 annual report, FNSEA outlined the actions it had taken to oppose Farm to Fork, writing that it had worked with COPA-COGECA and other European allies to โunderline the risksโ related to the strategyโs โquantified objectives.โ FNSEA stated that โin connection with the measures of the Green Deal, it asked for a pragmatic approach,โ reflecting both economic and environmental factors. It also stated that it had called for the strategies to be aligned with European trade policy.37โRapport annuel 2021,โ FNSEA, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dS1PY
In a May 2020 article on its website about the measures, FNSEA wrote: โThe first estimates, based on realistic work by technical institutes, show a reduction of a third in field crop production. More than enough to plunge our trade balance even further. Is this how we will ensure the food sovereignty of France and the European Union? Is this how we will allow farmers to live with dignity from their profession and ensure the economic dynamism of rural areas?โ38โStratรฉgies farm to fork et biodiversitรฉ : la Commission fait fausse route !,โ FNSEA, May 20, 2020. Archived December 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/0NYIN
In its March 2020 response to the EUโs public consultation on the Farm to Fork strategy, FNSEA stated that the plans would put agriculture โon the path to degrowth, with uncertain environmental benefits.โ39FNSEA. โStratรฉgie de la Ferme ร la Fourchette – Rรฉponse ร la Consultation publique de la Commission europรฉenne,โ accessed via Corporate Europe Observatory, March 11, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
FNSEA has in particular criticized the EUโs 2030 targets to halve the use of pesticides and increase the amount of organically-farmed land by 25 percent.40Severine Mermilliod. โโUne nouvelle PAC plus “verte” : la FNSEA inquiรจte du “niveau des exigences fixรฉesโ,โ Europe 1, September 21, 2020. Archived May 24, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dWRDZ
FNSEA has expressed โstrong concernโ about the F2F pesticide reduction targets becoming legally binding. In its 2022 response to the European Commissionโs revision of its Sustainable Use of Pesticides regulation (SUR), which would translate the rule changes into law, FNSEA suggested that proposals to ban use of pesticides in โsensitive areas,โ such as parks, could distort competition between different regions and โrisk loss of potential for agricultural production threatening the sustainability of farms and sectors.โ The group also stated that the regulation โmust in particular support precision agriculture, including high-performance anti-drift equipment, biocontrol products, genetics and robotics.”41FNSEA. โPositions dรฉtaillรฉes de la FNSEA sur le projet de rรจglement (classรฉes par chapitre),โ European Commission, September 19, 2022. Archived November 21, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
The effect that the Farm to Fork Strategy may have on European yields has been widely contested. As of November 2022, seven impact assessments by a number of universities, consultancies, and public institutions have been published. Some suggest that the strategyโs targets could result in lower crop yields and lower income for farmers. However, according to reporting by Corporate Europe Observatory, five of the seven reports have been paid for and conducted in collaboration with the agrochemical industry.42Nina Holland and Rachel Tansey. โA loud lobby for a silent spring: the pesticide industryโs toxic lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2021. Archived May 24, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
Multiple NGOs and academics have criticized the studies, arguing that they give only a โpartial and incompleteโ picture of F2Fโs potential impacts.43Alice Poiron. โWhy Attacks Against the EU Farm to Fork Strategy Completely Miss the Point,โ Slow Food, February 9, 2022. Archived October 25, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hwUqD For example, the existing impact assessments do not consider the positive impacts that can result from expanding sustainable practices and reducing pesticide use, such as growth of bee populations resulting in improved crop pollination. Critics also note that the studies do not consider the cost of not taking action, such as potential climate breakdown, biodiversity loss, and a global food production crisis.44Nina Holland and Rachel Tansey. โA loud lobby for a silent spring: the pesticide industryโs toxic lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2021. Archived May 24, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 45โGreen Deal targets for 2030 and agricultural production studies โ Fact Sheet,โ European Commission, February 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
Lobby watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory has accused agrochemical industry members of using impact assessments to โscaremonger about economic losses while painting an unfair pictureโ of a more sustainable food system.46โA loud lobby for a silent spring: The pesticide industryโs lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, March 17, 2022. Archived July 26, 2022. Archive PDF: https://archive.ph/hpFb3
FNSEA stated in its 2021 annual report that it had โrequested a global impact studyโ on Farm to Fork, โintegrating all the aspirational quantified objectives, including aspects socio-economic, the consequences on employment and the territories.โ47โRapport annuel 2021,โ FNSEA, 2022, page 8. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dS1PY
Corporate Europe Observatory has found that agribusiness lobby groups โfloodedโ the European Commission with similar calls for cumulative impact assessments.48โA loud lobby for a silent spring: The pesticide industryโs lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, March 17, 2022. Archived July 26, 2022. Archive PDF: https://archive.ph/hpFb3 Politico reported that influencing the Commission to provide more impact assessments was โa key lobbying objective of Farm to Fork skeptics.โ49Eddy Wax. โMEPs vote on EUโs green food plan amid lobbying blitz,โ POLITICO, October 17, 2021. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/6sAeB
According to Corporate Europe Observatory, the impact assessments โtend to favour economic factors over social and environmental ones,โ adding that these reports are โonly delaying progress towards tackling the climate emergency.โ50Vicky Cann. โExploiting the Ukraine crisis for Big Business,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, July 28, 2022. Archived October 25, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dSLE8
In an October 2021 vote on Farm to Fork, MEPs responded to the calls for impact assessments by making just one amendment to the strategy: a commitment to conduct โrobust, scientific ex-ante impact assessments” on any upcoming legal proposals.51Eddy Wax. โEUโs green food plan survives lobby push in MEPsโ votes,โ POLITICO, October 20, 2021. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Ri5oo
Using Ukraine War to Attack F2F
In a statement released following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the FNSEA called for the European Union to take greater measures to ensure EU food security. In the statement, FNSEA criticized the EUโs Farm to Fork Strategy, calling it a strategy for โโโdรฉcroissance,โ or โdegrowth.โ52โConsรฉquences de la Guerre en Ukraine : lโUnion Europรฉenne doit remettre la souverainetรฉ alimentaire en prioritรฉ absolue,โ FNSEA, March 2, 2022. Archived June 13, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5Te6Q
Campaigners have termed the agriculture industryโs calls to roll back Farm to Fork in light of Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine as โgrossly misleading,โ and attempts โto scare policymakersโ into backtracking on Farm to Fork.53Clare Carlile and Hazel Healy. โFlagship EU Green Farming Reforms in Peril as Lobbyists Exploit Ukraine War,โ DeSmog, December 9, 2022.
According to Olivier de Schutter, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, “the invasion of Ukraine has certainly helped spark a crisis of food prices and hunger, but it canโt be emphasized enough that there has been no shortage of food supply.โ54Clare Carlile and Hazel Healy. โFlagship EU Green Farming Reforms in Peril as Lobbyists Exploit Ukraine War,โ DeSmog, December 9, 2022.
In May 2022, the European Commission released a statement affirming that โfood availability is not at stake in the EUโ as a result of the war in Ukraine.55โThe European Commission steps up its monitoring of agricultural markets impacted by Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine,โ European Commission, May 20, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/TDhuD
In March 2022, a group of civil society organizations, including IPES-Food and ActionAid, signed an open letter to members of the European Commission which stated: โThe crisis in Ukraine is yet another reminder of how essential it is to implement the Green Deal and its Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies.โ56โJoint open letter: EU food supply and solidarity response to the war in Ukraine,โ Food Policy Coalition, March 10, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XDGgG
However, investigative journalism outlet Lighthouse Reports commented at the time that โthe lobbying [of FNSEA and others] seems to be working.โ57Lighthouse Reports. โThe lobbying seems to be working. “If food security is in danger, then we need to have another look at the objectives of the Farm to Fork strategy and correct them,” said EU Agriculture Commissioner @jwojc on March 2,โ Tweet thread by @LHreports, March 8, 2022. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5z6sE
FNSEA called for a roll back of a F2F measure mandating that farmers ensure at least 4 percent of their land is โnon-productive.โ58โConsรฉquences de la Guerre en Ukraine : lโUnion Europรฉenne doit remettre la souverainetรฉ alimentaire en prioritรฉ absolue,โ FNSEA, March 2, 2022. Archived June 13, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5Te6Q
A coalition of civil society organizations responded that โploughing more farmland […] would be absurd and dangerously increase ecosystem collapses, the most severe threat to social-ecological stability and food security.โ59โJoint open letter: EU food supply and solidarity response to the war in Ukraine,โ Food Policy Coalition, March 10, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XDGgG
Environmental NGO BirdLife International responded that โthe all-powerful French farm union FNSEA, followed by its European umbrella organisation COPA-COGECA,โ has โlaunched an assaultโ on F2F. It stated that French Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie was also attempting to โshove the EU off its path towards an ecological transition in farming,โ noting that Denormandie is โa strong supporter of the farm lobby.60โFarm lobby uses Russia-Ukraine war as opportunity to attack the European Green Deal,โ BirdLife International, March 8, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/i4Baa
In April 2022, France announced that it would allow farmers to cultivate non-productive areas. Franceโs Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie stated that France would โassume Europeโs role as a provider of food.โ61Hugo Struna. โCAP talks could be impacted by recent French fallow land derogation,โ Euractiv, April 22, 2022. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/CALmi
In July 2022, the European Commission also announced that it would be pausing the requirement to preserve 4 percent of non-productive land, โfollowing a request from EU Member States.โ62โCommission proposes a temporary short-term derogation from certain agricultural policy rules to increase the production of cereals,โ European Commission, July 22, 2022. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/CJe9V
Influence over French Agricultural System
FNSEA holds strong influence over the French agricultural system. Corporate Europe Observatory argues that it โis much more than just a farmerโs trade union: it has been the co-manager, together with large sections of the French State, of Franceโs agricultural system for the past 50 years.โ63โFNSEA, Franceโs agribusiness war machine in the name of farmersโ defence,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, October 9, 2020. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rLdb7
FNSEA’s former President Christiane Lambert described French Agricultural Minister Julien Denormandie as a โgood spokesperson for our causeโ in 2021.64Franรงois Parsy. โCurieux, le tweet vient d’รชtre supprimรฉ. Dommage pour la @FNSEA, les captures d’รฉcran existent,โ Tweet by @FraParsy, June 14, 2021. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
During an FNSEA event in March 2022, Denormandie praised a “relationship of trust and reciprocityโ with the FNSEA.65โCongrรจs de la FNSEA : lโaction de Julien Denormandie saluรฉe Christiane Lambert,โ Agri 72, March 29, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5GWnA
In 2019, the FNSEA worked with the National Gendarmerie โ Franceโs military force focused on law enforcement amongst the civilian population โ to set up a special unit to combat โagribashing.โ66Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L
According to FNSEA vice president รtienne Gangneron, the unit was created at FNSEAโs โexpress requestโ after โseveral monthsโ of activism by the union.67โLe Bureau,โ FNSEA. Archived December 8, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/sM7zF 68Marie Astier. โLa cellule de gendarmerie Dรฉmรฉter harcรจle les opposants ร lโagro-industrie,โ Reporterre, January 28, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/23HDg 69โMise en place de la cellule Demeter : enfin une protection concrรจte contre les intrusions dโรฉlevage !,โ FNSEA, November 7, 2019. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/DPOCN
According to Le Monde, the unitโs objectives extended beyond preventing theft, equipment damage, and other crimes against farmers, to intervene in activism that criticized mainstream agricultural practices.70Mathilde Gรฉrard et Stรฉphane Foucart. โLa cellule Dรฉmรฉter, surveillant les ยซ atteintes au monde agricole ยป, est en partie dans lโillรฉgalitรฉ selon la justice administrative,โ Le Monde, February 2, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3ipTl
Environmental organizations reported being surveilled and interrogated by the unit. Alerte Pesticides Haute-Girond, a grassroots group campaigning to end use of synthetic pesticides, claimed it was questioned for organizing a discussion on the risks of pesticide use. Semaine Pour les Alternatives aux Pesticides, a group that organizes an annual series of events promoting alternatives to pesticides, said it was questioned โto check that what [the group] were organizing could not cause any damage,โ and that the gendarmerie unit โwanted to know if we were planning a demonstration in the street and if farmers would be present.”71Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L
In February 2022, the Paris administrative court declared the unit in part illegal. According to Le Monde, the court stated: โIt is not up to a gendarmerie cell to monitor environmental defenders or animal rights activists to prevent โactions of an ideological nature.โโ72Mathilde Gรฉrard et Stรฉphane Foucart. โLa cellule Dรฉmรฉter, surveillant les ยซ atteintes au monde agricole ยป, est en partie dans lโillรฉgalitรฉ selon la justice administrative,โ Le Monde, February 2, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3ipTl
Within France, FNSEAโs relationship with the Ministry of Agriculture has been a source of contention between the union and environmental organizations. In December 2021, environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion sent out a hoax press release announcing the merger of FNSEA and the Ministry of Agriculture.73Stรฉphane Foucart. โโAucun gouvernement nโa suivi ou devancรฉ avec une telle constance les desiderata du productivisme agricoleโ,โ Le Monde, December 12, 2021. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tODra
FNSEAโs perceived influence over French policymakers is particularly significant given Franceโs role within the EU as its largest agricultural producer.74โAgricultural output of the EU down by 1% in 2020,โ Eurostat, November 15, 2021. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/WKKxV France accounts for one fifth of Europeโs overall agricultural output.75Liz Alderman. โThe Future Farmers of France Are Tech Savvy, and Want Weekends Off,โ The New York Times, October 7, 2021. Archived May 24, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/k9vdQ
France also consistently receives the largest subsidies from the EUโs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidy scheme for farmers.76โAgriculture Atlas | The Biggest Beneficiary,โ Arc 2020, September 16, 2019. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/9NGcu 77โFinancing of the CAP,โ European Parliament, April 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/37oNW
Actions
Lobbying Presidential Candidates in 2022
During France’s 2022 presidential election, FNSEA lobbied candidates on the EUโs Farm to Fork Strategy and European Green Deal. On its website, FNSEA published โ30 proposals for an ambitious presidential project.โ The second proposal, โrestore an ambition for sustainable growth to Farm to Fork, Biodiversity strategies and Green deal,โ implied that economic growth had not been factored into F2F or the Green Deal.78โ30 Propositions pour un projet prรฉsidentiel ambitieux,โ FNSEA. Archived August 4, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
In January 2022, FNSEA President Christine Lambert told Le Journal du Dimanche that Farm to Fork targets to reduce pesticide use and increase organic farming would be difficult to achieve, and called for an impact study. She also stated that some presidential candidates were โproponentsโ of degrowth, stating: โTheir speeches are worrying. They are dangerous for territories, jobs and the economy.โ79โCe que le Conseil de l’agriculture franรงaise attend des candidats ร l’รฉlection prรฉsidentielle,โ Le Journal du Dimanche, January 8, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/kVp86
Lambert named two candidates, Yannick Jadot and Jean-Luc Mรฉlenchon, who had supported a key reform proposed as part of Farm to Fork measures that would encourage EU subsidies to support greener farming practices, instead of the current practice of linking subsidies to the area of land owned.80Huge Struna. โFrench candidatesโ views on EU farming policies explained,โ Euractiv, March 25, 2022. Archived August 4. 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QvZyg
By contrast, President Emmanuel Macron, the incumbent candidate, promised to revise the EU Farm to Fork targets, and stated that the strategy was based on a world โbefore the war in Ukraine.โ81Huge Struna. โFrench candidatesโ views on EU farming policies explained,โ Euractiv, March 25, 2022. Archived August 4. 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QvZyg
FNSEA welcomed Macronโs election, stating that it expected him to โentrustโ the next Minister for Agriculture with implementing the unionโs 30 proposals.82โFNSEA urges Macron to act on food sovereignty,โ Eurofruit, April 25, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Dw44R
In May 2022, following the election, the European Commission criticized Franceโs implementation plans for the Common Agricultural Policy, saying they lacked environmental ambition.83Stรฉphane Foucart. โFrance remains reluctant to green its agriculture despite criticism from the European Commission,โ Le Monde, May 5, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RwS5R
Lobbying on Ecophyto Plan
FNSEA lobbied against France’s โEcophytoโ policy to reduce pesticide use 25 percent by 2020, and 50 percent by 2025. The plan also aimed to phase out the โmain usesโ of the pesticide glyphosate by the end of 2020, and by 2022 at the latest โfor all uses.โ The plan was to be implemented in three key phases launched in 2008, 2015, and 2018.84โLe plan รcophyto, qu’est-ce que c’est ?,โ Ministรจre de LโAgriculture et de la Souverainetรฉ Alimentaire, February 7, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hR2Ub
The Ecophyto plan was amongst the strongest legislative responses to an EU Directive requiring Member States to develop national strategies to reduce the risks and harms of pesticide use on the environment and human health. Ecophyto was one of only two plans that committed to halving pesticide use by 2030. However, the commitment โwas only on paper,โ according to Investigate Europe, and French farmersโ pesticide purchases โactually increased between 2011 and 2020 from 61,200 to 67,700 tonnes.โ85Harald Schumann, Nico Schmidt and Alicia Prager. โThe battle over pesticides in Europe,โ Investigate Europe, June 24, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/POsZd
France has the highest use of pesticides in the EU, due to its large agricultural areas and number of vineyards.86Lars Neumeister. โLocked in Pesticides: The European Unionโs dependency on harmful pesticides and how to overcome it,โ FoodWatch, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
In the run-up to the 2015 revision of the Ecophyto plan, FNSEA contested elements of the proposed measures.
In a 2015 interview, then-president of FNSEA Xavier Beaulin stated: โWe are ready for fewer pesticides, but where are the alternative solutions? โฆ[W]e will not be content with a solution that offers a reduction in volumes, or being told: โthe only solution is agroecology.โ There are other solutions to reduce the use of phytosanitary products, notably through seeds. We must stop opposing all regulations to innovation.โ87Laure Noualhat. โXavier Beulin : ยซ Nous sommes prรชts ร moins de pesticides, mais oรน sont les solutions alternatives ? ยป,โ terraeco, February 20, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/oy94y
Beaulin argued that some French imports did โnot respect standards and specifications” imposed on French farmers with regards to pesticides, citing a study by Generation Future of pesticide residues on lettuces for sale in France. However, Beaulin was criticized for incorrectly citing the evidence, because only two of the lettuces tested in the study were imported โ both from Spain โ while 29 of the lettuces tested were produced in France.88Tรขm Tran Huy. โPesticides dans les salades : la FNSEA critique lโEspagneโฆ ร tort,โ Public Sรฉnat, September 23, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/O4UdS
FNSEA called the 2015 revision of the Ecophyto plan โsurprising and upsetting,โ arguing that it was โalways going beyond European obligations, always doing better and faster where our competitors test and observe before deciding. This is not a policy, these are ideological postures.โ89Amelie Bachalet. โFNSEA : ยซ Valls promet, lโadministration dรฉmet ยป,โ Terre-net, October 28, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/SOloF
In 2018, FNSEA again lobbied against a revision of the Ecophyto plan, meeting with ministers about its implementation and calling for โcomplete impact studies on the alternatives.โ90โEcophyto II+ : รฉcoutez les agriculteurs !,โ FNSEA, April 11, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pz3B9
Lobbying over glyphosate
FNSEA is a vocal defender of the controversial pesticide glyphosate,91Sophie Chapelle, โPourquoi la FNSEA est-elle accro au glyphosate?,โ basta!, October 25, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wTryu which came up for re-approval in the EU in 2022.92โGlyphosate,โ European Commission. Archived December 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/37vjz
FNSEA has staged protests to demand glyphosateโs re-approval, including blocking the Avenue des Champs-รlysรฉes in Paris in 2019.93Gรฉraldine Woessner. โPreuve ร l’appui : les glyphotests sont bidon !,โ Le Point, December 19, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/jwJO3 FNSEA has also conducted field tests that attempted to demonstrate that glyphosate can not be detected in farmersโ urine, and thus was safe to use.94Thomas Deszpot. โRetrouve-t-on du glyphosate dans le corps de 90% des Franรงais, comme le dรฉplore Jean-Luc Mรฉlenchon ?,โ TFI Info, May 31, 2022. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KEmXe
Marketed by Monsanto as โRoundup,โ glyphosate is the worldโs most widely used pesticide. Agrichemical giant Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018.95Camila Domonoske. โMonsanto No More: Agri-Chemical Giant’s Name Dropped In Bayer Acquisition,โ National Public Radio, June 4, 2018. Archived October 27, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/4I5ti
Glyphosate has been found to harm pollinators and soil health.96โThe environmental impacts of glyphosate,โ Friends of the Earth Europe, June 2013. Archived June 10, 2021. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. Because glyphosate is applied to crops as a spray, it can spread beyond targeted crop fields and weeds and affect surrounding soils, plants, wild animal species, and microorganisms.97Lindsey Konkel. โWhatโs the worldโs most widely used herbicide doing to tiny critters?,โ Environmental Health News, March 18, 2019. Archived November 23, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GTQ7R
Some studies have linked glyphosate to changes in the metabolism, growth, behavior, and reproduction of certain fishes, mollusks, and insects.98Lindsey Konkel. โWhatโs the worldโs most widely used herbicide doing to tiny critters?,โ Environmental Health News, March 18, 2019. Archived November 23, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GTQ7R
There has been widespread debate regarding the risk of glyphosate to human health. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization (WHO) found that glyphosate was a probable human carcinogen. In contrast, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) do not classify glyphosate as carcinogenic. The EFSAโs decision was widely criticized: it was believed to have relied on undisclosed industry studies alongside published scientific papers. In 2017, it was found that entire sections of the risk report had been โcopy-pasted directly from industryโs original application.โ99โThe Glyphosate Story so far: Controversy over Science, Lawsuits and Dodgy Lobbying Tactics,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, Health and Environmental Alliance, Global 2000, and PAN Germany, July 2021. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/zHWEJ
Lobbying Against Glyphosate Phase-out Targets in France
In 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron pledged to end use of glyphosate within three years.100โMPs ignore Macron pledge on glyphosate,โ The Connexion, June 29, 2018. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QPJHO
Christiane Lambert, former president of FNSEA, argued that it would not be possible to ban glyphosate within three years โfor all usages.โ FNSEA denounced the โadditional costsโ farmers would face due to the measures, as well as the intention to ban glyphosate โwithout solutions or alternatives.โ101Franรงois Vignal. โGlyphosate : ยซ Lโinfluence du lobby de la FNSEA fait faire marche arriรจre ร Macron ยป,โ Public Sรฉnat, January 25, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ZUXJH
FDSEA Morbihan, a regional department of the FNSEA, argued that the environmental movement had been โconveying moralizing, catastrophic, even conspiratorial messagesโ in order to mobilize the French public against the pesticide.102Patrick Croguennec. โBretagne. Le glyphosate, un dรฉbat vraiment impossible ?,โ Ouest-France, May 10, 2021. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/foDDn
In 2018, the French National Assembly rejected a ban on all uses of glyphosate by 2021, thereby allowing continued use of glyphosate in some forms of agriculture.103Adrien Cahuzac. โGlyphosate : comment les agriculteurs de la FNSEA ont remportรฉ la partie,โ Le Journal du Dimanche, June 14, 2018. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Tku75
FNSEA former President Christiane Lambert denied lobbying on the issue, stating, โI don’t lobby. I was democratically elected by the farmers to defend them.โ However, she acknowledged that she had met with Nicolas Hulot, then-Minister for the Ecological and Inclusive Transition, and that โglyphosate was one subject among othersโ during their conversation.104Adrien Cahuzac. โGlyphosate : comment les agriculteurs de la FNSEA ont remportรฉ la partie,โ Le Journal du Dimanche, June 14, 2018. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Tku75
Franรงois Veillerette, president of the French environmental organization Future Generations, noted that the inconsistencies between Macronโs commitment on banning glyphosate and the rejection of the ban by his own majority-holding party reflected โpesticide industry lobbies and the FNSEA, who used all their weight to prevent [the glyphosate ban] from being incorporated into the law.โ105Sรฉgolรจne Allemandou and Guillaume Guguen. โThe Pesticide Generation โ Children on the Front Line,โ France 24, November 2018. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Q4VPY
In 2019, FNSEA gave evidence to the parliamentary fact-finding mission on โthe follow-up to the glyphosate exit strategy.” FNSEA argued that there were โsignificant risks” to banning glyphosate, including “loss of markets” and “loss of sectors.” Shortly afterwards, President Macron announced that it would not be possible to meet his earlier target for phasing out glyphosate โ a decision that French news outlet LCP Assmblรฉe Nationale linked to FNSEAโs position.106Vincent Kranen. โInterdiction du Glyphosate: La FNSEA demande une โporte de sortieโ au pouvoir politique,โ LCP Assemblรฉe Nationale, February 14, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: โโhttps://archive.ph/nOSAm
French politician Joรซl Labbรฉ stated that โit is the influence of the agricultural lobby [including FNSEA] which makes Emmanuel Macron backtrack once again.โ107Franรงois Vignal. โGlyphosate : ยซ Lโinfluence du lobby de la FNSEA fait faire marche arriรจre ร Macron ยป,โ Public Sรฉnat, January 25, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ZUXJH
Lobbying for Glyphosate Approval in the EU
FNSEA has also lobbied at the EU level for continued use of glyphosate.
In 2017, when the European Commission debated whether to approve use of glyphosate in the EU for the next five to 15 years, FNSEA mobilized over the issue.108Sophie Chapelle. โPourquoi la FNSEA est-elle accro au glyphosate?,โ basta!, October 25, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wTryu Among other actions, FNSEA coordinated a Paris protest in which 250 farmers blocked the Champs-รlysรฉes by laying on mounds of straw.109โThe last straw: French farmers block Champs Elysees in Paris to protest herbicide ban,โ Euronews, September 22, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/C0aIh
FNSEA also provided data for and had โintensive contactโ with a consultancy firm preparing a study on the potential impacts of a glyphosate ban. In its final version, the study warned that a ban or phaseout would lead to very significant agricultural losses.110โThe cumulative agronomic and economic impact of glyphosate in Europe,โ Stewart RedQueen, February 2017. Archived March 15, 2018. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
The study was funded by the pesticide lobby group European Crop Protection Association (ECPA), since renamed CropLife Europe. ECPA used its findings in factsheets distributed to MEPs ahead of the vote.111โLast minute pro-Roundup lobbying ahead of high-level #MonsantoPapers hearing,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, September 10, 2017. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/T4uBQ
In the final vote, glyphosate was approved for a five year period, with renewal required in 2023.
France was one of four EU member states appointed to assess Roundupโs safety as part of the Assessment Group on Glyphosate (AGG).112โGlyphosate,โ European Food Safety Authority. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/gBcmW
Ahead of the AGG reportโs publication in June 2021, farmers from a local FNSEA met to defend the use of glyphosate.113Barbara Gabel. โLes agriculteurs de la FNSEA ne veulent pas se passer du glyphosate,โ franceinfo, May 11, 2021. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/LrPPL
In early 2022, following publication of an Environmental Science and Pollution Research study testing the urine of over 6,800 participants for glyphosate traces, FNSEA members defended Roundup. The study, which was conducted by the Association Campagne Glyphosate alongside academics, found that โglyphosate levels [were] detected in 99% of the French population, with higher values in men, in younger people, and in farmers.โ114Daniel Grau, Nicole Grau, Quentin Gascuel, Christian Paroissin, Cรฉcile Stratonovitch, Denis Lairon, Damien A. Devault, Julie Di Cristofaro. โQuantifable urine glyphosate levels detected in 99% of the French population, with higher values in men, in younger people, and in farmers,โ Environmental Science and Pollution Research, January 12, 2022. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XNwHm
Divisions of FNSEA organized a press conference to challenge the results of the study and accused โthe glyphosate pissing campaignโ of โspreading false information.โ115โIndre-et-Loire : le glyphosate revient sur le devant de la scรจne,โ la Nouvelle Republique.fr, January 29, 2022. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/D7rhO
In the past, several branches of FNSEA have carried out counter-studies in response to similar findings. Their studies, which used less sensitive analyses, found no glyphosate traces.116Gรฉraldine Woessner. โPreuve ร l’appui : les glyphotests sont bidon !,โ Le Point, December 19, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/jwJO3
FNSEAโs findings have been questioned, particularly over the limited nature of their sample sizes.117Thomas Deszpot. โRetrouve-t-on du glyphosate dans le corps de 90% des Franรงais, comme le dรฉplore Jean-Luc Mรฉlenchon ?,โ TFI Info, May 31, 2022. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KEmXe
Funding
FNSEA declared a 2021 turnover of more than 1 million euros in the French Transparency Register.118โFNSEA โ Federation Nationale Des Syndicats DโExploitants Agricoles,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tfDOp
Mediapart reported in 2020 that FNSEA received 6.3 million euros in member dues โvia the departmental federations FDSEA,โ and 4.2 million euros in government subsidies.119Amelie Poinssot. โยญA la FNSEA, le train de vie hors sol des dirigeants,โ Mediapart, February 19, 2020. Accessed via regards.fr. Archived November 7, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
Mediapart criticized the high salaries of FNSEA management staff, which were said to be โfar superior to what is done in companies of equivalent size, but also to what is practiced in other unions.โ FNSEA CEO Clรฉment Faurax was said to have raised salaries of management staff between 5 and 30 percent on taking office, meaning that he received 13,400 euros monthly (equivalent to 160,800 euros annually).120Amelie Poinssot. โยญA la FNSEA, le train de vie hors sol des dirigeants,โ Mediapart, February 19, 2020. Accessed via regards.fr. Archived November 7, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
Terre-net reported in 2018 that FNSEA received subsidies due to its election to the French Chambers of Agriculture. The article stated that 13 million euros in annual “public funding of farmers’ trade unions” was allocated according to votes received and seats won in the elections, which FNSEA consistently has won. According to the article, โFNSEAโs financial reports show a subsidy of around 4.2 million euros in recent years.โ121Arnaud Carpon. โLes รฉlections des chambres dโagriculture, l’enjeu financier pour les syndicats,โ Terre-net, December 4, 2018. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/8rWwJ
FNSEA and FDSEAโs local branches appear to have independent budgets. Multiple branches have declared turnovers on the French Transparency Register. For example, FDSEA du Finistรจre declared a turnover of above 1 million euros for 2021, and FDSEA du Morbihan declared a turnover of between 500,000 and 1 million euros.122โFDSEA du Finistรจre,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3Mc7V 123โFDSEA du Morbihan,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RHtRA
Lobbying
Lobbying in the European Union
FNSEA reported that it spent between 200,000 – 299,999 euros (USD$236,600 – 354,899) lobbying the EU in 2021, according to the EU Transparency Register.124โFNSEA,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/e5ybD
Between 2010 and 2019, FNSEA spent between 1,600,000 and 2,099,994 euros (USD$1,892,000 – 2,383,293) on EU lobbying in total, according to official EU data aggregated by the transparency website LobbyFacts.125โFรฉdรฉration Nationale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricoles (FNSEA),โ LobbyFacts. Archived June 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/fT42K#selection-323.0-323.66
FNSEA has submitted responses to a number of European Commission public consultations, including the 2021-22 Revision of the EU Pollinators Initiative.126โFNSEA,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/e5ybD
FNSEA reported that it held 17 meetings with representatives of the European Commission between 2015 and 2022, and that it also participated in โcertain civil dialogue groups under COPA mandate.โ127โMeetings – FNSEA,โ European Commission Transparency Register, November 2, 2022. Archived November 2, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 128โFNSEA,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/e5ybD
Lobbying in France
FNSEAโs lobby spend in France was between 600,000 and 700,000 euros in 2020 and 2021, (USD$709,800 and 828,100) and 800,000 to 900,000 euros (USD$896,000 and 1,008,000) in 2018 and 2019 and 2018, according to its declaration in the French transparency register.
The organization reported employing 10 lobbyists in 2021, and was involved in 87 lobbying activities. Between 2017 and 2021, 29 of its activities concerned pesticides, including six that specifically focused on the Ecophyto plan.129โFNSEA โ Federation Nationale Des Syndicats DโExploitants Agricoles,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tfDOp
In a 2022 analysis of French lobbying records, the French media outlet Agra Presse found that FNSEA was โthe main forceโ in agricultural lobbying in the country, dedicating at least 600,000 euros (USD$709,800) of its budget to lobbying on average since 2017, for around 70 annual actions. The analysis found that FNSEAโs departmental and regional branches were even more active: When considering all local federations, FNSEAโs departmental and regional branches had annual lobby spends of 820,000 and 680,000 euros (USD$970,060 and 804,440) for approximately 406 and 325 actions per year, respectively.130Ivan Logvenoff. โLobbying et agriculture : qui sont les acteurs les plus influents,โ Agra Presse, May 19, 2022. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/htuYa
Multiple local groups of the FNSEA (often referred to as FDSEAs โ Fรฉdรฉration Dรฉpartementale des Syndicats d’Exploitants Agricoles) also declare lobbying activities in the French Transparency Register. For example, FDSEA du Finistรจre declared 15 lobby activities in 2020 and eight in 2021 and. FDSEA du Morbihan declared eight in 2020 and 10 in 2021 Both declared annual lobbying budgets of under 10,000 euros (USD$11,830).131โFDSEA du Finistรจre,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3Mc7V 132โFDSEA du Morbihan,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RHtRA
Some local groups have not made their transparency declarations regarding annual lobbying expenses for recent years.133โFNSEA86,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KCYxv 134โFNSEA 17,โ Haute Autoritรฉ pour la Transparence de la Vie Publique. Archived November 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tGu8x
Affiliations
Copa-Cogeca – FNSEA is a member of the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations (COPA), which is one half of the Europe-wide farming trade body COPA-COGECA. FNSEA’s former President Christiane Lambert, is the president of COPA.135โFNSEA,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/e5ybD 136โAbout Copa,โ Copa-Cogeca. Archived May 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/fio58
Bureau Europรฉen de lโAgriculture Franรงaise (BEAF) – Members of the Conseil de lโAgriculture Franรงaise are represented in Brussels by BEAF, which lists FNSEA as an affiliate.137โFNSEA,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/e5ybD BEAF spent 300,000 – 399,999 euros (USD$354,800 – 473,199) on lobbying activities in 2021, according to the EU Transparency Register.138โBureau Europรฉen de l’Agriculture Franรงaise,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/s3By4
Conseil de lโAgriculture Franรงaise (CAF) – FNSEA is a member of the Conseil de lโAgriculture Franรงaise (CAF), alongside Young Farmers (French: Jeunes Agriculteurs (JA)) and three financial companies with operations in the agriculture sector: Crรฉdit Agricole, the Mutualitรฉ Sociale Agricole, and Groupama. FNSEA’s former President Christiane Lambert is also the president of CAF.139โFNSEA,โ EU Transparency Register. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/e5ybD
According to Corporate Europe Observatory, โthe BEAF also represents many specialised national associations who also belong to the FNSEA, including the powerful associations of French wheat (AGPB) and sugarbeets (CGB) producers โ AGPB for instance chairs COPAโs cereals working group.โ140“FNSEA, Franceโs agribusiness war machine in the name of farmersโ defence,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, October 9, 2020. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rLdb7
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) – FNSEA lists EESC as an affiliate on its website, and describes the EESC as โan EU advisory body made up of representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations and other interest groups. It transmits opinions on European matters to the Commission, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament and thus serves as a link between the decision-making bodies and the citizens of the EU.โ141โNotre prรฉsence en Europe et ร lโinternational,โ FNSEA. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/q6Llj
Influential Member of Key Agricultural Associations
French farming is supported by 103 โchambres dโagriculture.โ142โFrench Chambers of Commerce [EN],โ Chambres DโAgriculture. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/4Unrv
As well as providing advice to farmers, the chambers โprovide expertise to public authorities and give their views on agricultural and rural issues.โ143โNous connaitre,โ Chambres d’Agriculture. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/g7Avt
In the 2019 election, FNSEA won a majority of seats in all but eight of the local chambers.144โRรSULTATS DES รLECTIONS 2019 DES CHAMBRES D’AGRICULTURE,โ Chambre DโAgriculture. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dn9kG
APCA, the umbrella body for the chambers, lobbies the French and EU governments.145โChambre DโAgriculture France,โ Chambres DโAgriculture. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/MpqQh
It is also a member of and โenjoys close ties withโ COPA-COGECA alongside FNSEA.146โThe French Chambers of Agriculture for the farmers and the rural world,โ Chambres DโAgriculture. Archived August 2, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
The President of APCA from 2016 to 2019, Claude Cochonneau, had previously been vice president of FNSEA for 12 years.147โClaude Cochonneau : Une vie dโengagement,โ FNSEA, December 23, 2019. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GI9rJ
In 2021, Henri Bies-Pere, vice president of FNSEA, was appointed as chair of the agricultural group for Franceโs Conseil รฉconomique, social et environnemental (Le CESE).148โGroupe Agriculture,โ Le Cese. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/vd6Q0
The Conseil is a constitutional assembly that advises the prime minister, National Assembly, and Senate on the development of economic and social policies.149โQuel est le rรดle du Conseil รฉconomique, social et environnemental?,โ Vie Publique, March 25, 2021. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/ArpUt 150โLe Conseil รฉconomique, social et environnemental,โ Le Cese, 2021. Archived August 17, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
Of 15 representatives in the Conseilโs agriculture group for 2021-26, six are from FNSEA, four from APCA, and one from Jeunes Agriculeurs (JA) or โYoung Farmers,โ a group spun off from FNSEA. The agriculture group is involved in shaping Conseil responses to EU issues.151โGroupe Agriculture,โ Le Cese. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/vd6Q0 152โNotre histoire,โ FNSEA. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/PMcY1
In October 2021, led by Biรจs-Pรฉrรฉ, the agriculture group submitted a response to the Conseilโs consultation โ2022: la relance du projet europรฉen?โ (โโโrelaunch of the European projectโ). The response referred to Farm to Fork โ the EUโs strategy to transition to a more sustainable agricultural system โ as โnonsense,โ and referenced impact studies suggesting that the strategy would lead to a fall in yields, a rise in prices, and an increase in imports.153โ2022 : la relance du projet europรฉen? Dรฉclaration du groupe Agriculture,โ Le CESE, October 2021. Archived August 3, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog
The Group also suggested that the costs would come โwithout any real benefit for carbon neutrality.โ154โ2022 : la relance du projet europรฉen? Dรฉclaration du groupe Agriculture,โ Le CESE, October 2021. Archived August 3, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
In contrast, a study by the EUโs Joint Research Centre (JRC) predicted that Farm to Fork would โachieve significant environmental benefits in the form of reductions in greenhouse gasses and ammonia emissions as well as in gross nutrient surplus.โ155J. Barreiro Hurle, M. Bogonos, M. Himics, J. Hristov, I. Perez Dominguez, A. Sahoo, G. Salputra, F. Weiss, E. Baldoni, and C. Elleby. โModelling environmental and climate ambition in the agricultural sector with the CAPRI model,โ JCR Publications Repository – European Commission, 2021. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/bC5EZ
Resources
- 1Aude Mazoue. โFranceโs unprecedented drought shows climate change is โspiralling out of controlโ,โ France 24, May 11, 2022. Archived November 12, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/EMUKg
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- 5โAgricultural output of the EU down by 1% in 2020,โ Eurostat, November 15, 2021. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/WKKxV
- 6Ulrich Krotz and Joachim Schild. โFrance and Germany will dominate the EU after Brexit โ but they wonโt go unchallenged,โ LSE, January 30, 2019. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/MwDpM
- 7โCongrรจs de la FNSEA : lโaction de Julien Denormandie saluรฉe Christiane Lambert,โ Agri 72, March 29, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5GWnA
- 8โManifeste pour une souverainetรฉ alimentaire solidaire UNE ALIMENTATION POUR TOUS DANS LE RESPECT DE LA PLANรTE,โ FNSEA, May 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pNTAQ
- 9Laure Noualhat. โXavier Beulin : ยซ Nous sommes prรชts ร moins de pesticides, mais oรน sont les solutions alternatives ? ยป,โ terraeco, February 20, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/oy94y
- 10โConsรฉquences de la Guerre en Ukraine : lโUnion Europรฉenne doit remettre la souverainetรฉ alimentaire en prioritรฉ absolue,โ FNSEA, March 2, 2022. Archived June 13, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5Te6Q
- 11โManifeste pour une souverainetรฉ alimentaire solidaire,โ FNSEA, 2020. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pNTAQ
- 12Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L
- 13Mathilde Gรฉrard et Stรฉphane Foucart. โLa cellule Dรฉmรฉter, surveillant les ยซ atteintes au monde agricole ยป, est en partie dans lโillรฉgalitรฉ selon la justice administrative,โ Le Monde, February 2, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3ipTl
- 14Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L
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- 16โQui sommes nous?,โ FNSEA. Archived May 20, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/BNBor
- 17โCopa Members,โ Copa-Cogeca. Archived May 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/u9KVB
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- 19โConseil administration,โ FNSEA. Archived May 22, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/y6Yjj
- 20โFNSEA, Franceโs agribusiness war machine in the name of farmersโ defence,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, October 9, 2020. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rLdb7
- 21“Xavier Beulin, President of French Farmerโs Union FNSEA died,” LinkedIn. Archived August 17, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
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- 23Jade Peychieras, โQui est Arnaud Rousseau, le nouveau patron de la FNSEA ?,โ France Bleu, April 13 2023. Archived July 15 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wCUFL
- 24Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9
- 25Jade Peychieras, โQui est Arnaud Rousseau, le nouveau patron de la FNSEA ?,โ France Bleu, April 13 2023. Archived July 15 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wCUFLย
- 26Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9
- 27Amรฉlie Poinssot, โLa rรฉmunรฉration hors norme dโArnaud Rousseau, prรฉsident de la FNSEA, ร la tรชte du groupe Avril,โ Mรฉdiapart, February 29, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 28ade Peychieras, โQui est Arnaud Rousseau, le nouveau patron de la FNSEA ?,โ France Bleu, April 13 2023. Archived July 15 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wCUFL
- 29Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9
- 30Pierric Marissal, โร la tรชte de la FNSEA, qui est Arnaud Rousseau, le businessman qui voulait passer pour un paysan ?,โ LโHumanitรฉ, January 22, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dcnC9
- 31Amรฉlie Poinssot, โLa rรฉmunรฉration hors norme dโArnaud Rousseau, prรฉsident de la FNSEA, ร la tรชte du groupe Avril,โ Mรฉdiapart, February 29, 2024. Archived July 15, 2024. Archive .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 32Sophie Chapelle. โPourquoi la FNSEA est-elle accro au glyphosate?,โ basta!, October 25, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wTryu
- 33Barnabรฉ Binctin. โLa FNSEA a pris le pouvoir sur lโagriculture dans les rรฉgions,โ Reporterre, January 6, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GIBwI
- 34โFNSEA, Franceโs agribusiness war machine in the name of farmersโ defence,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, October 9, 2020. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rLdb7
- 35Henri Bies-Pรฉrรฉ, Hervรฉ Lapie, Joรซl Limousin, Olivier Dauger. โFaire du dรฉfi climatique une opportunitรฉ pour lโagriculture: Rapport dโorientation 2020,โ FNSEA, September 10, 2020. Archived May 24, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 36Mรฉriadec Raffray. โLa stratรฉgie ยซ Farm to Fork ยป mort-nรฉe?,โ LโOpinion, March 30, 2022. Archived December 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/nrNTH
- 37โRapport annuel 2021,โ FNSEA, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dS1PY
- 38โStratรฉgies farm to fork et biodiversitรฉ : la Commission fait fausse route !,โ FNSEA, May 20, 2020. Archived December 7, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/0NYIN
- 39FNSEA. โStratรฉgie de la Ferme ร la Fourchette – Rรฉponse ร la Consultation publique de la Commission europรฉenne,โ accessed via Corporate Europe Observatory, March 11, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 40Severine Mermilliod. โโUne nouvelle PAC plus “verte” : la FNSEA inquiรจte du “niveau des exigences fixรฉesโ,โ Europe 1, September 21, 2020. Archived May 24, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dWRDZ
- 41FNSEA. โPositions dรฉtaillรฉes de la FNSEA sur le projet de rรจglement (classรฉes par chapitre),โ European Commission, September 19, 2022. Archived November 21, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 42Nina Holland and Rachel Tansey. โA loud lobby for a silent spring: the pesticide industryโs toxic lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2021. Archived May 24, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 43Alice Poiron. โWhy Attacks Against the EU Farm to Fork Strategy Completely Miss the Point,โ Slow Food, February 9, 2022. Archived October 25, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hwUqD
- 44Nina Holland and Rachel Tansey. โA loud lobby for a silent spring: the pesticide industryโs toxic lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, December 2021. Archived May 24, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 45โGreen Deal targets for 2030 and agricultural production studies โ Fact Sheet,โ European Commission, February 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 46โA loud lobby for a silent spring: The pesticide industryโs lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, March 17, 2022. Archived July 26, 2022. Archive PDF: https://archive.ph/hpFb3
- 47โRapport annuel 2021,โ FNSEA, 2022, page 8. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dS1PY
- 48โA loud lobby for a silent spring: The pesticide industryโs lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, March 17, 2022. Archived July 26, 2022. Archive PDF: https://archive.ph/hpFb3
- 49Eddy Wax. โMEPs vote on EUโs green food plan amid lobbying blitz,โ POLITICO, October 17, 2021. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/6sAeB
- 50Vicky Cann. โExploiting the Ukraine crisis for Big Business,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, July 28, 2022. Archived October 25, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/dSLE8
- 51Eddy Wax. โEUโs green food plan survives lobby push in MEPsโ votes,โ POLITICO, October 20, 2021. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Ri5oo
- 52โConsรฉquences de la Guerre en Ukraine : lโUnion Europรฉenne doit remettre la souverainetรฉ alimentaire en prioritรฉ absolue,โ FNSEA, March 2, 2022. Archived June 13, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5Te6Q
- 53Clare Carlile and Hazel Healy. โFlagship EU Green Farming Reforms in Peril as Lobbyists Exploit Ukraine War,โ DeSmog, December 9, 2022.
- 54Clare Carlile and Hazel Healy. โFlagship EU Green Farming Reforms in Peril as Lobbyists Exploit Ukraine War,โ DeSmog, December 9, 2022.
- 55โThe European Commission steps up its monitoring of agricultural markets impacted by Russiaโs invasion of Ukraine,โ European Commission, May 20, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/TDhuD
- 56โJoint open letter: EU food supply and solidarity response to the war in Ukraine,โ Food Policy Coalition, March 10, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XDGgG
- 57Lighthouse Reports. โThe lobbying seems to be working. “If food security is in danger, then we need to have another look at the objectives of the Farm to Fork strategy and correct them,” said EU Agriculture Commissioner @jwojc on March 2,โ Tweet thread by @LHreports, March 8, 2022. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5z6sE
- 58โConsรฉquences de la Guerre en Ukraine : lโUnion Europรฉenne doit remettre la souverainetรฉ alimentaire en prioritรฉ absolue,โ FNSEA, March 2, 2022. Archived June 13, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5Te6Q
- 59โJoint open letter: EU food supply and solidarity response to the war in Ukraine,โ Food Policy Coalition, March 10, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/XDGgG
- 60โFarm lobby uses Russia-Ukraine war as opportunity to attack the European Green Deal,โ BirdLife International, March 8, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/i4Baa
- 61Hugo Struna. โCAP talks could be impacted by recent French fallow land derogation,โ Euractiv, April 22, 2022. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/CALmi
- 62โCommission proposes a temporary short-term derogation from certain agricultural policy rules to increase the production of cereals,โ European Commission, July 22, 2022. Archived November 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/CJe9V
- 63โFNSEA, Franceโs agribusiness war machine in the name of farmersโ defence,โ Corporate Europe Observatory, October 9, 2020. Archived August 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/rLdb7
- 64Franรงois Parsy. โCurieux, le tweet vient d’รชtre supprimรฉ. Dommage pour la @FNSEA, les captures d’รฉcran existent,โ Tweet by @FraParsy, June 14, 2021. Retrieved from Twitter.com. Archived .png on file at DeSmog.
- 65โCongrรจs de la FNSEA : lโaction de Julien Denormandie saluรฉe Christiane Lambert,โ Agri 72, March 29, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/5GWnA
- 66Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L
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- 68Marie Astier. โLa cellule de gendarmerie Dรฉmรฉter harcรจle les opposants ร lโagro-industrie,โ Reporterre, January 28, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/23HDg
- 69โMise en place de la cellule Demeter : enfin une protection concrรจte contre les intrusions dโรฉlevage !,โ FNSEA, November 7, 2019. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/DPOCN
- 70Mathilde Gรฉrard et Stรฉphane Foucart. โLa cellule Dรฉmรฉter, surveillant les ยซ atteintes au monde agricole ยป, est en partie dans lโillรฉgalitรฉ selon la justice administrative,โ Le Monde, February 2, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3ipTl
- 71Sophie Chapelle. โCellule de renseignement Demeter : quand la gendarmerie se met au service de lโagro-industrie,โ basta!, September 25, 2020. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/crZ8L
- 72Mathilde Gรฉrard et Stรฉphane Foucart. โLa cellule Dรฉmรฉter, surveillant les ยซ atteintes au monde agricole ยป, est en partie dans lโillรฉgalitรฉ selon la justice administrative,โ Le Monde, February 2, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/3ipTl
- 73Stรฉphane Foucart. โโAucun gouvernement nโa suivi ou devancรฉ avec une telle constance les desiderata du productivisme agricoleโ,โ Le Monde, December 12, 2021. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/tODra
- 74โAgricultural output of the EU down by 1% in 2020,โ Eurostat, November 15, 2021. Archived August 3, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/WKKxV
- 75Liz Alderman. โThe Future Farmers of France Are Tech Savvy, and Want Weekends Off,โ The New York Times, October 7, 2021. Archived May 24, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/k9vdQ
- 76โAgriculture Atlas | The Biggest Beneficiary,โ Arc 2020, September 16, 2019. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/9NGcu
- 77โFinancing of the CAP,โ European Parliament, April 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/37oNW
- 78โ30 Propositions pour un projet prรฉsidentiel ambitieux,โ FNSEA. Archived August 4, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 79โCe que le Conseil de l’agriculture franรงaise attend des candidats ร l’รฉlection prรฉsidentielle,โ Le Journal du Dimanche, January 8, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/kVp86
- 80Huge Struna. โFrench candidatesโ views on EU farming policies explained,โ Euractiv, March 25, 2022. Archived August 4. 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QvZyg
- 81Huge Struna. โFrench candidatesโ views on EU farming policies explained,โ Euractiv, March 25, 2022. Archived August 4. 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/QvZyg
- 82โFNSEA urges Macron to act on food sovereignty,โ Eurofruit, April 25, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/Dw44R
- 83Stรฉphane Foucart. โFrance remains reluctant to green its agriculture despite criticism from the European Commission,โ Le Monde, May 5, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/RwS5R
- 84โLe plan รcophyto, qu’est-ce que c’est ?,โ Ministรจre de LโAgriculture et de la Souverainetรฉ Alimentaire, February 7, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/hR2Ub
- 85Harald Schumann, Nico Schmidt and Alicia Prager. โThe battle over pesticides in Europe,โ Investigate Europe, June 24, 2022. Archived August 4, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/POsZd
- 86Lars Neumeister. โLocked in Pesticides: The European Unionโs dependency on harmful pesticides and how to overcome it,โ FoodWatch, 2022. Archived August 17, 2022. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 87Laure Noualhat. โXavier Beulin : ยซ Nous sommes prรชts ร moins de pesticides, mais oรน sont les solutions alternatives ? ยป,โ terraeco, February 20, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/oy94y
- 88Tรขm Tran Huy. โPesticides dans les salades : la FNSEA critique lโEspagneโฆ ร tort,โ Public Sรฉnat, September 23, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/O4UdS
- 89Amelie Bachalet. โFNSEA : ยซ Valls promet, lโadministration dรฉmet ยป,โ Terre-net, October 28, 2015. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/SOloF
- 90โEcophyto II+ : รฉcoutez les agriculteurs !,โ FNSEA, April 11, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/pz3B9
- 91Sophie Chapelle, โPourquoi la FNSEA est-elle accro au glyphosate?,โ basta!, October 25, 2017. Archived August 17, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/wTryu
- 92โGlyphosate,โ European Commission. Archived December 2, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/37vjz
- 93Gรฉraldine Woessner. โPreuve ร l’appui : les glyphotests sont bidon !,โ Le Point, December 19, 2019. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/jwJO3
- 94Thomas Deszpot. โRetrouve-t-on du glyphosate dans le corps de 90% des Franรงais, comme le dรฉplore Jean-Luc Mรฉlenchon ?,โ TFI Info, May 31, 2022. Archived August 23, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/KEmXe
- 95Camila Domonoske. โMonsanto No More: Agri-Chemical Giant’s Name Dropped In Bayer Acquisition,โ National Public Radio, June 4, 2018. Archived October 27, 2022. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/4I5ti
- 96โThe environmental impacts of glyphosate,โ Friends of the Earth Europe, June 2013. Archived June 10, 2021. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
- 97Lindsey Konkel. โWhatโs the worldโs most widely used herbicide doing to tiny critters?,โ Environmental Health News, March 18, 2019. Archived November 23, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GTQ7R
- 98Lindsey Konkel. โWhatโs the worldโs most widely used herbicide doing to tiny critters?,โ Environmental Health News, March 18, 2019. Archived November 23, 2021. Archive URL: https://archive.ph/GTQ7R
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