RENNES, France: France is urging its farmers to produce more cut-price meat in a big U-turn on factory farming, with inflation hammering demand for organic pork, chicken, and beef.
Marc Fesneau, Agriculture Minister, told a big agro-industry meeting on Tuesday that “we have to admit that we must work on the entry-level” end of the market.
He insisted that animal welfare matters only work if someone is ready to pay for high-quality meat, AFP reported.
The statement seems to signal a major shift in government thinking after President Emmanuel Macron shook the powerful intensive farming lobby in France, soon after taking power in 2017, by saying it was time to stop production, whether of pork or poultry, which no longer corresponds to our needs or tastes.
Huge industry under pressure in France
The major industry has been under intense pressure over animal welfare and the environmental damage it causes, especially in the western agricultural powerhouse of Brittany, where Fesneau delivered his speech.
Green algae from nitrates in fertilizers and waste from the region’s intensive poultry, pig, and dairy farming have been linked to a number of casualties on its tourist beaches.
But Macron’s wish to steer the biggest beef producer upmarket in Europe appears to have foundered, with 11% food inflation pushing shoppers to snub organic for cheaper meat.
