France agriculture bill revives pesticide exemptions fight

The France agriculture bill gives Anses limited power to permit two pesticides, setting up a legal fight over farm costs and EU rules.

The Senate adopted the emergency farm measure after an overnight vote in the National Assembly, clearing legislation designed to help producers facing weaker margins and tougher overseas competition. The measure lets the food-safety agency Anses issue temporary exemptions for acetamiprid and flupyradifurone, two pesticides that remain authorised elsewhere in the European Union.

The vote hands the government a political win with farm groups that have pressed for looser rules, but it also opens a new legal front. Pro-environment left groups said they would ask the Constitutional Council to strike down the law, after the court rejected an earlier version of the pesticide provision last year.

Anses gains pesticide discretion

Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard defended the final text as a practical answer to pressure on producers. "The final version of this text brings real and tangible solutions to the farmers," she said during the session.

Genevard said the law would also help double water storage for agriculture, simplify rules for farm expansion and place decisions on pesticide exemptions with Anses scientists. That structure is central to the government's argument: the law does not automatically return the products to fields, but creates a route for time-limited authorisations.

The pesticides matter because growers say some crops have suffered since their use was curtailed in France. Sugar beet and hazelnut producers were among the farm groups lobbying for the measure, arguing that competitors in other EU countries have access to crop-protection tools unavailable to French producers.

Food imports sharpen farm politics

The bill arrives after a bruising period for French agriculture. France remains Europe’s biggest farming nation, but the sector has been importing more food, and its food-trade balance deteriorated sharply last year.

The pressures cited by supporters are broader than pesticides. Extreme weather has disrupted production, US tariffs have complicated trade, animal disease has hit livestock, and higher fuel and fertilizer costs have squeezed farms that already face thin margins.

Those pressures explain why a technical rule on two pesticides became a national competitiveness issue. For the government, easing selected restrictions is part of an effort to restore output and reduce the gap between French producers and rivals operating under different authorised tools inside the same single market.

For environmental groups, the same mechanism is the legal weakness. They are likely to argue that temporary exemptions still weaken health and environmental safeguards, and that the Constitutional Council has already signalled limits by rejecting an earlier version of the measure.

Three paths for French farms

If the Constitutional Council allows the law to stand and Anses grants exemptions narrowly, the immediate effect would be concentrated in crops that can show pest pressure and a lack of alternatives. In that case, French growers could recover some lost competitiveness, while the wider farm sector would treat the decision as a precedent for science-led flexibility within EU rules.

If the court blocks the pesticide clauses, the government’s farm agenda would lose its most contested tool while keeping other parts of the bill, including water storage and expansion measures. That outcome would leave affected crop producers facing the same input gap with EU competitors, and it could intensify pressure for compensation, alternative treatments or changes at EU level.

If Anses approves exemptions but attaches strict conditions, the macro effect would be limited but directionally important for food supply resilience. Lower crop losses could reduce import pressure at the margin, while pesticide makers and growers would face a more demanding approval model built around temporary use, scientific review and legal challenge.

The open questions are precise: how Anses will define eligibility, whether the Constitutional Council accepts the delegation to scientists, and how quickly farmers could use any approvals in the field. Until those answers arrive, the law changes the balance of power in French farm policy without ending the argument over pesticides.