PARIS: France has announced more than €1 billion in emergency aid for farmers after record summer heatwaves and severe drought damaged crops, pastures and water supplies across the country.

The financial package comes as the French government faces the politically sensitive task of preparing next year’s budget while attempting to control the national deficit ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard described the support as a major financial commitment given France’s difficult budgetary situation.

Around €520 million of the package will be distributed through rapid payments designed to help farmers cope with losses caused by extreme weather.

France’s main farmers’ union, the FNSEA, estimates that the agricultural sector has already suffered at least €10 billion in lost production. Livestock and arable farming have each reported losses exceeding €5 billion.

Genevard said the immediate priority was to manage the emergency, with an estimated 30,000 to 35,000 farms facing financial difficulties as a result of the extreme weather.

The government’s aid package is intended to provide urgent financial relief to farmers struggling with reduced production and rising costs following months of heat and drought.

The France farmer aid package also includes a €235 million recovery fund aimed at helping affected farms purchase essential supplies.

The recovery funding will support the purchase of seeds as well as plant and animal feed after prolonged drought left farmland severely parched.

Additional measures include land-tax relief, assistance with social-security payments and a fuel subsidy designed to reduce financial pressure on agricultural businesses.

The government hopes the combination of immediate payments and longer-term recovery measures will help farms remain operational and prepare for the next planting and production cycles.

The scale of the support highlights the growing economic impact of extreme weather on France’s agricultural sector, which plays an important role in the country’s economy and food supply.

France Farmers Face More Heat as Economic Growth Takes Hit

The latest France farmer aid announcement comes as another heatwave is expected to affect parts of the European Union, with France remaining the bloc’s largest agricultural producer.

The country’s finance ministry has warned that this summer’s unusually hot and dry conditions could reduce French economic growth by 0.1 percentage points this year, primarily because of lost agricultural revenue.

Farmers are facing the combined effects of depleted water supplies, damaged crops and deteriorating pasture conditions, increasing concerns about the sustainability of agricultural production during increasingly severe weather events.

The government’s emergency package is therefore aimed not only at addressing immediate losses but also at helping farmers recover from the damage caused by the latest heatwaves and drought.

With another period of extreme heat forecast, agricultural groups are likely to remain under pressure as France works to protect its farming sector while managing wider economic and budgetary challenges.