French Agrifood Industry

The Committee on General Principles of the Codex Alimentarius, the organization responsible for setting international food standards, is chaired by France (all committees of Codex are chaired by a representative of a country, elected by the others: for instance, the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene is chaired by an American). The 31st session of this […]

In order to come up with innovative solutions to the sustainable raising of goats, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and the Animal Husbandry Institute (IDELE) created a new research unit dedicated to the topic, called UMT SC3D. This unit will lead a research and development program over 5 years. This program aims […]

In late February, a report was officially published laying out the guidelines of the priority research program titled “Cultivate and Protect Differently.” Announced in July of 2018, this program will research methods of building an agricultural system that is better for the environment and human health, and will be funded with 30 million euros coming […]

In 2017, France held a series of national, regional and local workshops, and public consultations called the Estates General of Food. This offered a time of shared public reflection and collective construction of new solutions, which led culminated in the publication of a government roadmap for food policy for the period of 2018-2022. This roadmap […]

The Agro-food small business accelerator is a personalized support program that aims at assisting small and medium agro-food sized businesses that demonstrate strong growth potential, particularly with working on innovative and international projects: a target of 30 businesses per session is set. A call for interested parties to join this program was launched early this […]

French organic wines have seen an enormous success in sales and production in recent years, contributing to the increase of all wine exports. In eight years, the agricultural land area dedicated to organic wines has more than tripled. Exports have seen an increase of 32% since 2016, primarily thanks to the United States, Japan, and […]

The French Ministry for Agriculture and Food organized with its partners the fourth annual Agroforestry Day, which this year had the theme of agroforestry and climate change. The meeting managed to achieve all of its goals, bringing together nearly 200 people from the agroforestry sectors and allowing for an exchange of the latest research developments […]

A study conducted by the University Hospital of Besançon and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, INRA, has demonstrated for the first time a link between the consumption of cheese at a young age and a lower probability of developing food or dermatological allergies later in life. This is regardless of other types of […]

An international consortium coordinated by INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, has sequenced and decrypted the genome of several truffle species, including the white Alba truffle, the Burgundy truffle, and the desert truffle. This breakthrough allows for a better understanding of the symbiotic relationship between fungi and trees, for whom the ecological role […]

A decrease of 25% in the risk of cancer was observed in “regular” consumers of organic food products when compared to those who consume them less often, according to a new epidemiological study conducted by the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and other French research centers. The study analyzed data coming from nearly 70,000 […]