Splendors and miseries of French hens

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EDITORIAL. No cocorico for the chicken sector: according to a Senate report, our poultry, which is not very competitive, would no longer make the weight…

Pierre Antoine Delhommais

A red-haired pullet from a farm in Argeliers, in Aude.
© JUSTINE BONNERY / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP

Published on 03/13/2023 at 4:14 p.m.

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POwing to avian flu, poultry was absent this year from the Agricultural Show, depriving its visitors of the cackling and colorful spectacle of cuckoos from Rennes, gélines from Touraine, crèvecœurs from Normandy and other breeds of French hens, glories of the regions and pride of the nation. Also depriving young Parisians of the unique opportunity to discover with interest and excitement what the nuggets that are regularly served to them in the canteen are made of.

Chicken meat consumption in France is very dynamic, more than doubling in twenty years, but also shows tremendous resilience to economic crises and inflationary shocks. It thus managed to grow by 4.6% last year, according to France AgriMer, unlike this…