On the sustainability of the French food system: A macroeconomic assessment

The French farm and food sectors face increasing societal pressures to engage in a sustainable transition. By defining ambitious environmental objectives and promising significant funds for green investment, the Green Deal roadmap of the European Union provides a unique opportunity to make this transition feasible. This paper assesses the current economic ability of the French food system to cope with the restrictions on fertilizers, pesticides, and land uses defined in this comprehensive roadmap. Integrating the most recent statistical evidence on the behaviors of French farmers and consumers into a macroeconomic simulation model, we find that these farm-related objectives are reachable without seriously hampering the incomes of active farmers and transferring the burden onto foreign economies. These results are highly dependent on the currently unknown definition of high-biodiversity landscape features.