France allocates 400 million euros in aid for livestock farms

Faced with the current situation, the French government has presented a resilience plan that will act on these priorities:

• Faced with the significant increase in the cost of fuel, the 15 cents tax-free discount as of April 1 also applies to diesel for farmers.
• In view of the significant increase in the cost of gas, agricultural and forestry companies, as well as agri-food companies, are now eligible for aid given to gas and electricity-consuming companies. This aid will benefit companies whose gas and electricity expenditure represents at least 3% of costs, and which would become loss-making in 2022 due to the increase in their energy expenditure.
• In view of the increase in the cost of animal feed on farms, an exceptional measure has been taken with the establishment of aid to livestock farmers to cover part of the additional cost of feed. In concrete terms, this aid is aimed at farms that are highly dependent on the purchase of feed and will experience losses related to this increase. It will be for a period of 4 months, starting on March 15, and the first payments will be made in 2 months. A maximum of 400 million euros will be allocated to this aid.
• In view of additional difficulties, the budget for the payment of social security contributions will be supplemented this year by an additional 60 million euros to take into account farms facing increased costs, other than those covered by sectoral measures, which significantly deteriorate their operating accounts.