Mayors' support for access to short circuits and organic products in France 2020

The growing demand from citizens for health, traceability, quality and sustainability of food, as well as the demand for organic products and products from short circuits, place local elected representatives in a position of political responsibility. However, the mayors who assume this responsibility do not represent the majority. Indeed, a survey conducted in early 2020 showed that only 39 percent of them had supported initiatives promoting access to short circuits and organic products for all (e.g. through social centers, neighborhood houses, solidarity baskets or AMAPs, solidarity restaurants, or shared gardens).

Growing interest for short circuits

For a third of French people, favoring products coming from short circuits embodies the idea of a responsible consumption behavior. While in 2018 they were only 18 percent to do their food shopping via short circuits on a regular basis, the crisis has pushed many of the French to reconsider their consumption habits. Thus, between the period before the sanitary crisis and the month of November 2020, the proportion of French people favoring direct purchases from producers rose from 20 to 27 percent.

Organic market stimulated by the crisis

This shift in consumption patterns, greatly influenced by the crisis, has been reflected in the economic performance of the organic products sector, whose sales had grown by 26 percent during the first containment period. Moreover, the turnover of organic products resulting from direct sales has been growing rather steadily for the last ten years. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictive measures it involved have been more beneficial to local shops and Drive services. Compelled to stay at home out of necessity, the French resort to online food purchases via Drive has been massive, and the value of organic sales via this channel had indeed increased by 74 percent between the 12th and 13th week of 2020.