September 15, 2006
Environment overtakes subsidy issue at SPACE
An eFeedLink Exclusive
For once, the CAP or Europe's Common Agricultural Policy was relegated to the backseat for France's livestock community, where talk has shifted from the contentious subsidy issue towards reducing environmental pollution from agriculture, cutting farm energy costs and increasing research on renewable energy sources.
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Jean-Michel Lemetayer, president of SPACE |
These issues were addressed at SPACE 2006, France's foremost exhibition for the livestock, breeding and feed industry. Overall cost of French livestock production had risen by EUR80 million in 2005 compared with 2002, says Jean-Michel Lemetayer, president of SPACE, at his opening address during a visit by the French agriculture minister Dominique Bussereau on Sep 12.
Rising energy costs, which have only worsened this year, have eaten into some 10 percent of farm incomes and will continue to pose a critical issue in livestock farming, the SPACE president says. This, and further assistance for the bird flu-hit poultry industry, should be in the top priority for official financial aid, he added, to the applause of the audience.
The minister's speech unveiling new initiatives for the feed and livestock sector, a tradition of the show, however, brought mixed reactions. Despite what the local media have dubbed a "timorous statement" by the minister on assistance for local poultry producers, the issue of renewable energy sources was appreciably high on the official agenda. Bussereau's announcement of a revaluation on the purchase rate of electricity from bio-gases was seen as the most positive news. Pending subsidies which are expected in October, this would support the installation of methanisation facilities on many farms in the near future. |
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It was no surprise then that optimising energy use on farms was the theme chosen for this year's research and development platform, an annual feature at the show. Denis Bayon, a representative from the agricultural bureau of Morbihan in southern Brittany and a press contact at the R&D arena, showed how heat from milk tanks used to warm water can, for instance, cut farm energy costs by up to 70 percent. Poultry producers who employ the convection principle using biomass, and a 20-gramme gas pressure to warm poultry houses in the colder months, can expect energy savings of up to 30 percent.
AILE, a local organisation dedicated to rural energy saving schemes, says that there are currently about five such energy conservation projects in Brittany, France's no.1 livestock production region. Brittany also leads the country in the use of renewable farm energy sources, and farmers here are given a 45 percent subsidy on the cost of biomass.
Energy conservation schemes like these have recently been implemented nationwide. Ademe, a French agency for energy management, tells eFeedLink that active participation from livestock institutes and regional agricultural chambers has culminated in ongoing experimental projects like a 100-hectare site in Saules, Brittany, given to the planting of Micanthus Sinenesis crops for plant-based alternative energy. Barley and wood pellets are also becoming increasingly popular as an alternative energy source in Breton farms. |
French agriculture minister Dominique Bussereau |
It is this duo need to keep the lid on production costs and yet protect the environment that has become the key challenge for French livestock agriculture today, says Daniel Grebouval, a principal of Caulnes Agriculture College in Rennes and associate of the Ministry of Agriculture. To address this issue, agricultural institutes like Caulnes work closely with the French Ministry of Agriculture to develop a curriculum that drives home the message of environmentally sustainable farming among young farmers, who are also seen as the custodians of France's agricultural future and to which the traditional elements of French culture--namely, its cuisine and countryside--are closely tied.
The R&D arena French lamb, a major livestock in French agriculture
Yet "environmentally sound" farming inevitably adds to production costs. The reality facing farmers, particularly of the younger generation, is that of a lifetime of ever heftier bills to pay, even as the nation's agriculture becomes increasingly vulnerable to world markets and low, fluctuating prices of agri-products.
Preserving the coexistence of the small-to-medium farms synonymous with French tradition alongside large-scale commercial production is where the road ahead lies. Guy Lemercier of Cogedis, a French livestock and agricultural consultancy, recommends that farmers "be given today the options to make informed decisions for tomorrow". Diversifying into agro-tourism, reorganising production capacities and strengthening efficiencies and moving into exports are workable strategies for the future.
Economic efficiencies would dictate that the average output in French dairy farms, for instance, could double in 10 years, predicts Lemercier, who views larger farm production as a trend across the livestock sector. Nonetheless, the Cogedis consultant is optimistic that even as his country moves in step with European agricultural policies, French producers would adapt well and rise to new challenges. For now, it is clear that keeping up with production efficiencies while upholding rural development sustainably has and will continue to be a central tenet of French and European livestock farming.
SPACE 2006 ends on Sep 15 after four days with an estimated visitor rate of over 110,000 at the Parc des Expositions venue. The next SPACE event will be on Sep 11-14, 2007.
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