National Agriculture Days
The first National Agriculture Days will take place across France from June 18-20. The event will allow people to explore the country’s rich agricultural and food heritage via education, experimentation, research and visits to sites where food is produced and processed.
Jointly created by the Make.org Foundation and #agridemain (an association of leading agricultural organisations), the National Agriculture Days are supported by the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food. They are the result of two initiatives: a national consultation led by Make.org in 2018, followed in 2020 by a manifesto and open letter sent from #agridemain and 12 personalities to the French President, suggesting the creation of a day devoted to agriculture.
The menu of this unifying and convivial event covers a wide range of activities relating to agriculture and food: meetings, presentations and tastings, as well as the sale of produce, exhibitions, guided tours and educational workshops. More than 1,500 locations, family farms, heritage sites, educational and research centres will open their doors to visitors in a celebration of French agricultural heritage.
The event aims to:
• highlight France’s prominent status in food and agriculture, as it is the EU’s leading producer in this sector and provides nearly 18% of European agricultural production;
• answer a desire among French people to interact with farmers who contribute to that status, and whose role is increasingly seen as essential to the preservation of the land and the environment;
• enable professionals from the entire agricultural sector to promote their work and the quality of their produce to consumers;
• raise awareness of the challenges and issues facing the agricultural world, such as the development of short circuits and the preservation of biodiversity.
Guillaume Gomez, ambassador for the promotion of French gastronomy and sponsor of the event, said: “I am delighted that this occasion allows us to evoke the link between production and processing. I’m particularly thinking of the chefs from the association Euro-Toques, who make seasonality, respect for the product, taste and the home-made their priorities. For two years, alongside the #agridemain association, we have been working hard to highlight the importance of respect for these values. The world of gastronomy needs strong agriculture. If the ‘gastronomic meal of the French’ is on the UNESCO’s representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity, it is also thanks to the wealth of our agricultural activities.”
For more information visit the event's website