Abstract
In this chapter, the sustainability of organic products (soft wheat, flour and bread) is compared to that of conventional products in France. The organic supply chain is separated into four levels. Farmers (7328) produce 90,300 tons of soft wheat per year for the milling industry. Forty-eight cooperatives collect half of the grains produced. Millers (93 mills) produce 110,000 tons of flour (from both national wheat production and imports of wheat), which is then used in industrial or traditional bakery (3049 and 1948 employees respectively) to produce bread. The production of organic soft wheat represents 0.26% of the soft wheat production in France. Supply of French organic soft wheat falls short of demand and imports bridge the gap. A major challenge faced by the organic chain is the much lower yields of soft wheat compared to conventional farming. Both these challenges impact the sustainability of the organic supply chain. The results show that the organic chain is globally more sustainable than its reference with regards the economic, social and environmental aspects investigated here. Indeed, results indicate that the organic chain is more profitable at all levels of the value chain and creates more jobs at both farm and processing levels. The organic flour and bread have a lower carbon footprint and travel shorter distances than their reference. Their water footprint is also better on a per hectare basis although the higher yields of conventional wheat reverse this result on a per ton basis.
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Notes
- 1.
Yields for 2016/2017 were particularly low as there has been a long period of drought in the country. Over the last years, the average soft wheat production is about 37 million tons (Passion Céréales 2017).
- 2.
Updated figures for 2018 indicate about 100 thousand tons of organic soft wheat produced in France, and about 180–200 thousand tons of organic soft wheat milled, namely 80–100 thousand tons of imported soft wheat (i.e. 40–50% of the total organic grain volumes) (Pelletier 2019). These values point a rise in the demand for organic flour based products greater to the rise in the organic soft wheat volumes produced.
- 3.
Although only 2 years, from the beginning of the conversion and the sowing date, are needed to convert from conventional to organic wheat production.
- 4.
In France, since 2017, maintenance payments are no more funded by the EU but can be founded by regions, on a voluntary basis.
- 5.
According to the collective agreement of the bread making industry, bakeries that produce less than 5400 quintals of bread yearly, have fewer than 50 employees and rely mainly on direct sale to final consumers are considered as traditional or artisanal. To the contrary, bakeries that produce more than 5400 quintals of bread yearly, have more than 20 employees and a baking area larger than 30 sqm, earn less than 30% of their turnover with retail sale of bread, and produce and sell unfinished products, such as partially baked or pre-baked bakery wares are considered as industrial.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank all the people who contributed in any way to the development of this report. All the indicator coordinators, Sylvette Monier, Valentin Bellassen, Marion Drut, Antonio Bodini, Mohamed Hilal, Paul Muller and Mario Veneziani, for their work, their availability and their valuable advices.
All the professionals of the supply chain who helped us, for their time and their sympathy. Thank you, in particular, to Julien-Boris Pelletier from Moulin Marion, Raphaël Houlon from Moulin Suire, Loïc Viguier from Moulin Decollogne, Bérangère Mignot from Moulin Nicot, Florence Ethevenot from Dijon Céréales, Clément Divo and Pierre Robin from Chambre d’agriculture de Côte d’Or, Stéphane Grippon and Hélène Levieil from Bio Bourgogne, Laurence Mallet from DRAAF Dijon, Armelle Jaboeuf from France AgriMer, the bakery l’Instant Gourmand, Dijon and Les Champs du Destin, Sacquenay.
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Juge, C. et al. (2019). Organic Flour in France. In: Arfini, F., Bellassen, V. (eds) Sustainability of European Food Quality Schemes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27508-2_3
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