greenhouses heated by gas and fuel oil maintained until 2030

This step backwards comes despite criticism from the National Federation of Organic Agriculture, which believes that heating greenhouses goes against organic principles in the sense that this practice does not respect seasonality or the imperative of limiting the environmental footprint.

Heated greenhouses: organic farmers will have five more years to end fossil fuels

Producers of organic tomatoes and zucchini in heated greenhouses will be able to continue using fossil fuels until 2030, the National Council for Organic Agriculture (CNAB) decided on July 11, 2024. This decision extends the initial deadline that required the switch to renewable energies by January 2025. Note that installations built since 2020 must already comply with this requirement (by using geothermal energy, biomass or solar panels), but not older installations, which have therefore just gained a few extra years to make their change.

The National Federation of Organic Agriculture (FNAB) strongly criticizes this decision, pointing out the lack of efforts by producers to free themselves from fossil fuels, even though they had five years to do so. This is all the more surprising since the number of producers concerned is not very large: there are only about thirty who continue to use these fossil fuels to heat their greenhouses. The Fnab insists that heating greenhouses is incompatible with the principles of organic farming, because it disrupts seasonality and contributes to climate change. They believe that this practice compromises the authenticity and sustainability of the organic label.

Heated greenhouses, pure and simple, an aberration that had already been denounced

The context of this decision dates back to July 2023, when the Council of State had annulled a ban in force since the winter of 2019-2020. This ban, supported by small producers, prevented the cultivation of organic summer vegetables in heated greenhouses out of season. The Council of State ruled that this measure was not in accordance with the European regulation on organic production, which does not explicitly prohibit cultivation in heated greenhouses. And since a member state (in this case, France) is not entitled to impose stricter restrictions than those of the European Union, heated greenhouses had to be authorised.

This decision was supported by the Federation of Vegetable Producers of France and Felcoop, who believed that the ban created a distortion of competition unfavourable to French producers. Indeed, organic vegetables grown in heated greenhouses in winter would be imported from neighbouring countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany, thus worsening the French trade deficit.

Despite the satisfaction of large agri-food producers, this decision was denounced by the Confédération paysanne as well as environmental protection associations. They consider that not respecting the seasonality of crops is an aberration in agriculture, whether conventional or organic. They also point out that the specifications of organic farming require responsible use of energy and respect for natural cycles. These organizations had also collected more than 86,000 signatures in 2019 for a petition calling for a ban on organic production out of season.

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