Orange with Media Services, published on Tuesday, November 29, 2022 at 11:13 a.m.
Since the start of the inflationary crisis, organic sales have fallen by 6.3%. The fault with the distribution, accuse the producers.
After years of growth, the inflationary crisis is giving organic producers cold sweats.
Representatives of the organic sector accuse several distribution brands of “disengaging from the organic market”. What to fear “breakage in farms and businesses”, they assured in an open letter published Tuesday, November 29.
Addressing Leclerc, Cooperative U, Carrefour, Auchan, Casino, Intermarché and Cora, these producers note “an increase in demand for the ‘first prizes’“prejudicing organic products, in a context of “galloping inflation”. for organic.
“The development of approaches such as HVE (High Environmental Value certification, editor’s note) or Zero pesticide residues, which appropriate the codes of the organic label while they are far from offering the same level of requirement, creates confusion. among consumers,” they say.
Synabio, FOREBio and the FNAB criticize in particular the mass distribution of dismantling its teams previously dedicated to organic, of drowning their products in “categories with poorly defined contours such as ‘sustainable supply'”, or even to reduce the restocking of organic products. They estimate this drop at 7.3% between January and September 2022.
“Endangering entire sectors”
“We risk entering a vicious circle which could in a few months jeopardize entire sectors and compromise the efforts made for years by the public authorities, producers and companies to switch to organic”, they are moved. Again. This situation risks causing “breakage in farms and businesses”, farms engaging in organic farming needing at least 3 years or even 5 years to “get the label”, they recall.
Inflation, in particular that on food products (+12% over one year in October, according to INSEE), risks degrading the quality of French food. Between January and June 2022, organic sales were down 6.3%.