Paris (France) (AFP) – Finding something to feed the animals, sowing winter cereals, harvesting apples... Added to the long list of farmers' autumn tasks are requests to obtain aid released by the government after a devastating summer.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 07:15

“Most have been informed of the existence of emergency aid but have not yet looked into it. They are in the middle of construction: harvesting apples or chestnuts, lambing or calving,” explains Isabelle Clanchier, advisor for the agricultural social mutuality (MSA) in Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne.

Since mid-September, Farmers' Security has carried out an intense campaign among its members, with nearly 53,000 SMS or emails sent and nearly 14,000 calls.

Firstly to offer them a listening ear after a summer of drought and heatwaves that was catastrophic for crops and animals, and traumatic for farmers.

Then to remind them of the list of usual aid (psychological support, spreading of social security contributions, replacement to be able to breathe) and those urgently announced by the government.

Envelopes were released from April to deal with the increase in non-road diesel (GNR) and from July for the increase in fertilizers following the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.

“But if I don’t talk to them about it when I call them, they don’t talk to me about it. Their priority there is to find something to feed the animals,” declares Isabelle Clanchier.

After the call, she systematically sends back by email the links to request help “which only takes a few minutes”.

“No strength”

Between April and August, 74 million euros were paid for the GNR out of an envelope of more than 250 million. And 17 million in fertilizer aid were requested out of an envelope of 145 million to be consumed before the end of 2026, under penalty of having to return the remaining funds to the European Union, according to a report from mid-October.

Faced with the lack of requests, the Ministry of Agriculture has decided to reopen the spring GNR counters for latecomers and to allow the sending of unpaid fertilizer invoices in the application files.

“Some missed the information, others did not have the strength” in the face of “time-consuming” procedures, explains Karine Trévisan, social worker at the MSA in Côtes-d'Armor.

After initial calls to Breton poultry breeders who sometimes had to bury tons of animal corpses suffocated by the heat themselves in June, a second wave of calls began in September to other breeders, cereal growers and market gardeners, she says.

“Work overload”, “psychological trauma”, “extreme fatigue”, “feeling of isolation” and enormous “financial losses”, list the MSA advisors.

“Agricultural activities will calm down in November, but at the moment, they are catching up on the delay accumulated this summer”, particularly for sowing, explains Mickaël Prédour, recovery manager at the MSA of Armorique.

He is waiting for the arrival of the end-of-year social security contribution reports to propose deadlines or reductions, which are the subject of a separate envelope and therefore an additional process for the farmer.

Ratio of time spent/help received

In September, the government also announced 235 million euros to the prefects to relieve the treasuries of those who did not have the means to buy animals or seeds.

In Finistère and Côtes-d'Armor, "there were around 4,500 requests from 16,000 operators" for 8.2 million euros to be distributed, "the form was fifteen pages with 80 questions", recalls Laëtitia Le Bras Jacob, deputy director of MSA Armorique.

Large farms were helped by their accountant, but smaller ones were sometimes overwhelmed, says Karine Trévisan.

Farmers “will always make a ratio of time spent in relation to the amount of aid”, adds Mickaël Prédour.

For the GNR, the aid sometimes only amounts to a hundred euros, while cash flow aid can go up to 4,000 euros, or even 10,000 for some since each department has control over the distribution criteria.

Thus, in Dordogne, the form was “very simple and light”, according to Isabelle Clanchier, but the average amount paid will surely be lower.

With the gradual arrival of aid on bank accounts since the beginning of October, some will be able to make it through the year but "maybe not two", according to advisors. Others will take stock and choose to stop... or go out to demonstrate.

© 2026 AFP

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