Transformations in agriculture, food production and consumption 2024 Edition
In this new edition of the Insee Références collection, INSEE and the Department of Statistics and Foresight Analysis of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty present an overview of the main changes in French agriculture over the last 50 years: concentration and specialisation of farms since 1970, comparison of the economic performance of organic farming with that of conventional farming, changes in food consumption over the last decade and, finally, the environmental issues to which agriculture is contributing and which it must address.
Between 2009 and 2019, the proportion of the household food budget devoted to meat products decreased
Caroline Samson (FranceAgriMer)
In metropolitan France, food expenditure per household for consumption at home increased by 10% between 2009 and 2019, but its share of total consumption remained stable overall. The breakdown by food family is changing slowly. Spending on meat products, particularly butcher's meat, decreased, but remained the largest item of food expenditure (23%), ahead of dairy products (15%) and bread and cereals (10%).
On average, households have shifted part of their animal protein budget to fruits and, to a lesser extent, vegetables. For affluent households, the increase in the 'fruits and vegetables' item corresponded to an increase in the quantities purchased, whereas for modest households it reflected a rise in prices.
The most affluent households saw the biggest increase in the proportion spent on exotic fruit and citrus fruit. Lower-income households tended to buy less fruits, shifting part of their budget to "bread and cereals".