#SIA 2025 - Round table "Adapting to climate change: How to support the transformation of food systems in the Mediterranean?"
As part of the AACC-Med project, the FARM Foundation took advantage of the Paris Agricultural Show to organize a roundtable discussion on the adaptation challenges facing Mediterranean farmers. The event provided an opportunity to examine innovative avenues in financing and insurance, with the aim of better supporting the most vulnerable stakeholders and addressing their concerns.
Speakers:
Irene SARLIN, Olive grower and Vice-president of the Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence Regional Fund.
Mustapha CHEHHAR, Deputy Director General at Crédit Agricole du Maroc (CAM), Advisor to the President in charge of the public service mission and Treasurer of the CAM Foundation for Sustainable Development.
Bruno LEPOIVRE, Director of the net zero program and social commitments at Pacifica, the property and casualty insurance subsidiary of Crédit Agricole Assurances.
Hosted by Precila RAMBHUNJUN, Climate and Resilience Project Manager at the FARM Foundation.
The speakers discussed changes to their professions to better take into account realities on the ground based on increasingly accurate data. They addressed the need for cooperation in the Mediterranean and internationally in the face of the climate challenge to share tools, models, and successful experiences in terms of financing and insurance.
Mustapha CHEHHAR (Crédit Agricole du Maroc): “ In Morocco, we have 8.7 million hectares of arable land with 1,630,000 farmers, 75 to 80 of whom have areas of less than 5 hectares, and rain-fed agriculture is dominant, accounting for 85% of these. Small-scale agriculture is made up of a network of farmers who are vulnerable, particularly to climate change. A very risky reality for banks but also for the public. (…)
Morocco adopted an ambitious agricultural development plan, the Green Morocco Plan, aimed at increasing agricultural land and yields. However, we found that climate change was not sufficiently taken into account. We must redirect our agriculture and funding toward more resilient crops, whether almond, fig, cactus, or carob, while managing water scarcity.
Despite a strong interest in initiating the transition, a lack of technical knowledge emerged during our discussions with food system stakeholders. To address this need, and in collaboration with the AFD, we launched the program Istidama ("sustainability" in French) for the agricultural and agro-industrial sectors. It offers comprehensive support: technical advice, preferential financing rates and a 10 % grant. An initial deployment to large farms has been launched with an allocation of 50 million euros.
Irène SARLIN (Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence) : "Faced with climate change, there is a huge evolution in the banking profession. We started out as bankers, then became banker-insurers, and now we are bankers, insurers, and advisors. We will look upstream at the problems farmers face and we will advise them. We have dedicated experts in wine-growing and agricultural centers, which are at the heart of the terroirs, as close as possible to our countryside. The farmer will always find someone in front of him, who will be there to help and advise him. (…)
Uncertainties related to climate change can act as an additional obstacle to the establishment of young farmers. At CAAP, we support young farmers in their establishment with 0 % loans with 0 application fees, which can be up to €50,000 in the first year of their establishment. In 2024, we supported 88 young farmers in their establishment.
Bruno LEPOIVRE (Pacifica) : “Agriculture is a risky profession, particularly one involving climate risks. There has been a sharp increase in all these risks in recent years, both in frequency and intensity. There are no longer any regions or crops that are spared. Crop yields are severely affected, sometimes dramatically, with loss rates reaching 100 %. The need to cover oneself, to protect oneself, to be compensated in the event of events is increasingly essential. The reform of the insurance system in France, generalized in 2023, aims to increase this coverage rate. Depending on the type of crop, we are at 5–10 % for the least insured crops, at 35–40 % for the most insured crops in France. This is a notable, although slow, progression, and remains lower than what other countries have experienced.
Other Mediterranean countries, such as Spain and Turkey, are ahead of the curve. The Spanish system began in 1986. Their system of hedging and pooling climate risks is very proactive and offers all farmers a subsidized hedging system based on national funds, without European aid. They currently have 70,000,000 crops insured. (…)
We live in a paradox. On the one hand, risk is the insurer's raw material; if there is no risk, there is no need for insurance. On the other hand, if there are too many risks, too many uncertainties, it becomes impossible to insure. Will agriculture at +4°C be insurable? We hope so, but not with current tools and methods. We need to be more precise in our knowledge and understanding of risks, of the conditions in which a crop will be able to adapt and therefore be able to be insured.
Faced with growing climate risks, insurers can hardly bear the risk alone. Insurance cooperation is essential. This requires reinsurance mechanisms, state guarantees, and intelligent risk sharing between public, private, and producer stakeholders. It is our collective Mediterranean responsibility to attract and reassure international reinsurers, avoiding a withdrawal like the United States.
