Lessons from France: world leader on sustainable food & farming?
What can we learn from our neighbour on food sustainability?
A report of our March 2018 Business Forum.
France is rightly cited as one of the global leaders on sustainable food and farming, with bold targets and strong, comprehensive policy responses, including on food loss and waste and on nutrition and health; in 2017 it came top of the Economist Intelligence Unit and the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition’s Food Sustainability Index (‘FSI’).
President Macron recently unveiled a €5bn investment plan for France’s agricultural sector. As part of that, he urged farmers to embrace a ‘cultural revolution’ and move away from EU subsidies and intensive production methods.
In comparison, the UK only came 8th out of the 10 European countries included in the 2017 FSI, so what lessons can we can learn from our neighbour?