For the boss of the FNSEA, "we must identify land" where to produce solar

"Since the war in Ukraine, the energy challenge is rising at full speed and France is looking for solutions. Agriculture is able to say + We are present +", declares Ms. Lambert.

President Emmanuel Macron wants to multiply by ten the photovoltaic production capacity of France to exceed 100 gigawatts in 2050. This implies covering with panels "between 100.000 and 200.000 hectares", therefore "0,2% to 0,4% of the French territory", the Ministry of Energy Transition told AFP.

In the bill for the acceleration of renewable energies, voted on at first reading in the Senate, elected officials have injected provisions in favor of a "reasoned" development of agrivoltaism, which combines agriculture and energy production.

"Agrivoltaism is really agricultural and energy co-production, it's not just three sheep under panels", defends the president of the FNSEA.

She recalls the "doctrine" of the union in terms of solar: "Priority to (installations on) roofs, no photovoltaic on the ground and a supervised development of agrivoltaism."

Almost every week, energy companies present state-of-the-art agrivoltaic installations to the press. They ensure that the production of food is preserved there, even facilitated, the panels protecting the cultures from the pangs of the climate.

The subject divides. The Confédération paysanne judges that agrivoltaism is a "marketing concept" which will "undermine the nourishing vocation of the earth".

As for the Young Farmers' Union (JA), considered to be the incubator of the FNSEA, it is asking for a moratorium on agrivoltaism as long as the already artificialized land and the roofs "will not be covered in their greatest part", which costs more expensive for roofs.

The JA fear "a phenomenon of speculation and diversion of the nourishing vocation of the land". Especially since it is more profitable to rent them to an energy company than to a farmer.

Without sharing their watchword, Christiane Lambert "understands" that the Young Farmers have "kicked harder to defend the land" in view of the difficulties of access to land in certain regions.

"Their pressure was used to change" the positions of senators in favor of increased supervision, greets the one who chaired the JA between 1994 and 1998.

"Lace"

Beyond agrivoltaism, and in order to catch up with France's delay in solar energy, the government is eyeing land "without major environmental issues", according to the expression of the Ministry of Energy Sovereignty.

Agricultural wasteland is one of them.

Ms Lambert is not opposed to the installation of signs on these "unproductive lands (...) on which there will never be anything, neither a JA nor anyone else".

She cites the example of steeply sloping ground in Lozère, "on which not a sheep will go, it's only brambles, it's abandoned".

"We have to identify all the places where there will be no agriculture anyway. (...) It's really painstaking work, it's lace that has to be done" locally.

"The government is looking for 100.000 hectares. It tells us + It's not a lot +. In the departments where land is rare and expensive, it's a lot", continues Ms. Lambert.

"The challenge is to protect the land, but not to break the dynamics [of solar power], so the balance is tenuous," she admits.

For Christiane Lambert, we must also be careful about the size of the projects: "The energy companies would like large blocks of 100 hectares. For us, this is not possible. (...) It is better to do 10 projects of 10 hectares than a 100-hectare project because it facilitates acceptance" by local residents.