Government Halts Hedge Revival Plans: Environmental Efforts Cut Short

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In 2023, the government had pledged 110 million euros to replant 50,000 km of hedges. Since then, this budget has been significantly reduced, to the great disappointment of nursery owners who had invested in these beneficial plantings.

The Hedge Pact, introduced in September 2023 by the then Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, aimed to replant an additional 50,000 km of hedges by 2030, supported by an annual budget of 110 million euros. However, this financial commitment has since been significantly scaled back. It was first reduced to 45 million euros in the 2025 finance law, which includes nursery owners, farmers, associations, chambers of agriculture, and local communities.

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This budget cut did not stop there. Although the final budget for 2025 has not yet been announced, an amount of “at least 4 million euros” was suggested to the RHF—more than 27 times less than what was promised two years ago.

France currently has 750,000 km of hedges, but nearly 20,000 km are lost each year. Following the initial promise of 110 million euros, the first calls for projects were launched in 2024.

“We already know we’re going to have to throw away plants,” anticipates Clément Crété, a nursery owner in Lafresguimont-Saint-Martin (Somme) at his family nursery, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, surrounded by young plants spread over hectares, with production greenhouses and fields in the background.

The company increased its production tenfold, from 50,000 plants in 2015 to 500,000 in 2024. “We have grown since 2020. We were boosted by public subsidies that encouraged planting.” The Hedge Pact played a major role in this growth.

“It was an opportunity to invest in equipment and plantations: we played along by expanding our cultivation areas and training nurserymen. We had a long-term vision until 2030,” the professional recalls before sighing, “Ultimately, it lasted only one year.”

Also, this summer, the Réseau Haies France sounded the alarm. “When you start a public policy, if you change your mind every year, it’s not possible,” laments Arnaud Schwartz, a nursery owner at Jardins de Hanfgranva (Alsace). He too can only observe that tens of thousands of plants are waiting. “Today, we are navigating by sight,” he regrets.

The RHF deplores “many plantations stopped.” For Clément Crété, “10% loss is acceptable, but we will have to throw away 50% of the hedge production if nothing is done.”

“When Marc Fesneau announced a budget of 110 million euros in 2023, many of us hoped it would be renewed. But such commitment was not really guaranteed over time,” states Fabien Balaguer, director of the French Association of Agroforestry, which promotes and supports the integration of trees and hedges into agricultural practices.

This budget is allocated annually across regions by the regional directorates for food, agriculture, and forestry (Draaf). Despite the lack of clear vision, they launched their calls for projects again in September. And the levels of all these regional budgets have decreased.

In Hauts-de-France, for example, the budget decreased from 10 million euros in 2024 to 454,741 euros in 2025. When contacted for more information about the funding cuts, the Draaf referred us to the Ministry of Agriculture, which has remained silent.

While the aspect of sustainable management and valorization, namely the maintenance of existing hedges, is confirmed, it marks the end of (new) plantations. “Both are important,” insists the Réseau Haies France. “It is essential to continue motivating farmers to plant.” “Farmers are especially disillusioned,” says Fabien Balaguer, pointing out the government’s lack of strategy.

Clément Crété and Arnaud Schwartz remind us that hedges are not just decorative: they play a significant ecological and agricultural role. They provide coolness during heatwaves, slow soil erosion, reduce siltation in channels, and shelter a wide variety of animal and plant species.

They also serve as windbreaks, improve yields by protecting crops, and contribute to water quality. Another benefit for livestock owners: “Animals also need shade. Cattle in the middle of a heatwave are glad to have these natural umbrellas,” Clément Crété points out.

Several parliamentarians questioned the government before the summer. Sandrine Le Feur, a Renaissance party representative from the fourth district of Finistère and a professional organic farmer, had submitted a written question to the government on May 20, seeking assurance of “budgetary continuity for the hedge pact.” She highlighted the “excellent results on the ground” and the “services to agriculture, nature, and society.”

The government responded that “the means dedicated to investment schemes are part of the trajectory of public accounts control.” It implicitly acknowledges the budget cut and suggests peripheral instruments, notably the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) initiative in favor of hedges.

This scheme has recently been increased from 7 to 20 euros per hectare “to encourage farmers who manage sustainably to adopt this practice and to remunerate the services generated,” the ministry also replied. It emphasizes the need “to stop the disappearance of hedges,” because “planting alone is not enough.”

The government is betting on the management and valorization (i.e., maintenance) of the existing, not on planting. “That’s what costs the most,” observes the RHF. “But one cannot go without the other.”

What now? For Clément Crété, “it’s a missed opportunity by the government.” As for other envisioned funding, he wonders: “When? What?” He does not want to believe in the end of the Hedge Pact. Associations, including the RHF, are calling on the state and regions to find quick solutions. One proposed approach is to use the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.

Indeed, the amounts are much more modest than the initially announced 110 million euros annually, but this lever could help sustain the momentum on the ground and soften the blow, the professionals suggest.

For the French Association of Agroforestry, “30 or 40 million would already be good,” estimates its director. A budget that would be part of a multi-year plan, as working with trees spans several years. “A strategy is needed,” he adds.

Even from the FNSEA, the productivist agricultural union, this budgetary trimming raises questions. “Farmers are not the enemies of hedges. Hedges are structures that require time and energy. Farmers have the will, but not necessarily the means,” says Jean-Alain Divanac’h, a livestock farmer in Finistère and a member of the FNSEA’s board of directors in charge of biodiversity.

And he adds: “When you break a rearview mirror costing 600 to 800 euros on an agricultural machine because you’re not used to it, you think twice before planting. Yet, everyone agrees that hedges promote biodiversity and help contain erosion. The Hedge Pact also allowed for farmer training. We can only deplore this budget cut.”

The RHF also says it is crucial not to “let the Hedge Pact become a dead letter.” The association relies on the mobilization of more than 70 parliamentarians from all sides and 600 structures—from nursery owners to chambers of agriculture, through local communities, environmental associations, hunters, and cooperatives. This coalition, rare in the agricultural landscape, highlights the hedge as a strategic lever for agriculture, biodiversity, and climate.