(July 21): French lawmakers adopted a sweeping emergency agriculture bill that allows limited waivers for two banned pesticides, prompting backlash from pro-environment groups and the resignation of the country’s ecology minister.

The legislation, aimed at helping France regain its competitive edge and restore its agricultural trade balance, was approved by the Senate after an overnight vote at the National Assembly. It enables the food-safety agency Anses to grant temporary exemptions for the use of acetamiprid and flupyradifurone, which are authorised elsewhere in the European Union.

“The final version of this text brings real and tangible solutions to the farmers,” Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard told parliament. It will help double water storage for agriculture, simplify regulations for farm expansion and leave decisions on pesticide exemptions to Anses scientists, she said.

France, Europe’s biggest farming nation, has been importing more food, leading to the collapse of its food-trade balance last year. Extreme weather, US tariffs, animal disease and rising fuel and fertiliser costs have all weighed on French farmers.

The legislation follows lobbying by powerful farming unions, including sugar beet and hazelnut growers, who argued their crops have suffered without the pesticides.

Pro-environment leftist groups vowed to ask the Constitutional Council to strike down the law after it rejected an earlier version of the measure last year.

Ecology Minister Monique Barbut criticised the government for going back on its commitment by preventing a debate on removing the waivers, saying in a post on LinkedIn that “this U-turn is, in my view, one environmental reversal too many".

She added that “opposition forces” had become so strong that she could no longer pursue her environmental aims and said she would resign on Wednesday.

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