Misuse of agricultural land, a worrying scourge in Provence

Here, "you have land that was still being cultivated less than ten years ago, where the owner came and dumped a whole pile of rubbish, started designing electrical networks and fencing it off," laments Sébastien Perrin, secretary general of the Var Chamber of Agriculture and winegrower in the fertile Argens valley.

And it "will never be farmland again," he laments, as he scans this plot of land on the edge of a small road in the commune of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, where rubble and tree stumps are piled up: the "thousands of cubic meters of rubble, stones, earth, pieces of scrap metal" dumped there would have to be stripped, destroyed, and "stored in an appropriate landfill."

The case of this land is emblematic of agricultural land purchased to accommodate body shops, boat and caravan garages, leisure sheds or even to dump construction waste, all particularly profitable activities.

"These people are buying land at prices ten times higher than what a farmer charges," which is driving up the average price of agricultural land, and therefore "farmers are no longer able to buy because land has become too expensive and it takes generations and generations to amortize it," explains Sébastien Perrin.

This phenomenon, which exists throughout France, is particularly significant in coastal areas and near large urban centers.

Penalties not enough of a deterrent

In the coastal departments, "the very strong urbanization and the dynamics of construction generate a lot of waste, and to store it we go hunting on agricultural land, which is often accessible, because there is already a path, and which is sometimes a little hidden, in the middle of a wood, so it's easy", summarizes Jérémy Lieutier, president of the JA (Young Farmers) Paca.

It was the scale of the phenomenon, "when we started to measure it, that alerted us," says Laurent Vinciguerra, deputy general manager in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) for Safer, the land regulatory body.

According to Safer Paca, "1.500 to 2.000 hectares per year" on average are diverted each year in the region: "Our agricultural territory tends to be extremely degraded, with non-agricultural activities, particularly residential, which harass the agricultural space," explains Mr. Vinciguerra.

"People have the impression that we have no shortage of space," but "land in general and agricultural land in particular is one of the rare assets that we don't know how to produce today," insists Romain Blanchard, president of the FNSEA of Bouches-du-Rhône.

The mayor of Roquebrune-sur-Argens, Jean Cayron, has worked to create a charter of good conduct to combat the phenomenon in the Var region. But "SAFER, like the municipality, are not real estate agents for agricultural land," the elected official emphasizes.

Mayors are "often faced with a legal and regulatory imbroglio," says Laurent Vinciguerra.

In addition to this charter, the Chamber of Agriculture "works extensively with the deputy prosecutor to develop examples on which to act. Unfortunately, I think the prosecutor lacks the time to investigate these cases, which is the real issue," explains Sébastien Perrin.

According to him, "it is mainly the penalties that are not dissuasive enough", but "when we have some fairly concrete and restrictive examples, some people will think before diverting agricultural land", hopes the winegrower.

At the national level, a bill aimed at combating the disappearance of agricultural land was adopted at first reading by MPs in early March. This cross-party bill, championed by Socialist MP Peio Dufau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), includes provisions to strengthen the pre-emption rights of the Safer (Provincial Housing Fund).