Editing French Directory (section)

=== Food supply ===
The food supply for the population, and particularly for the Parisians, was a major economic and political problem before and during the Revolution; it had led to food riots in Paris and attacks on the [[National Convention|Convention]]. To assure the supply of food to the [[sans-culottes]] in Paris, the base of support of the [[Jacobins]], the Convention had strictly regulated grain distribution and set maximum prices for bread and other essential products. As the value of the currency dropped, the fixed prices soon did not cover the cost of production, and supplies dropped. The Convention was forced to abolish the [[General maximum|maximum]] on 24 December 1794, but it continued to buy huge quantities of bread and meat which it distributed at low prices to the Parisians. This Paris food distribution cost a large part of the national budget, and was resented by the rest of the country, which did not have that benefit. By early 1796, the grain supply was supplemented by deliveries from [[Italy]] and even from [[Ottoman Algeria|Algeria]]. Despite the increased imports, the grain supply to Paris was not enough. The Ministry of the Interior reported on 23 March 1796 that there was only enough wheat to make bread for five days, and there were shortages of meat and firewood. The Directory was forced to resume deliveries of subsidized food to the very poor, the elderly, the sick, and government employees. The food shortages and high prices were one factor in the growth of discontent and the [[François-Noël Babeuf|Gracchus Babeuf]]'s uprising, the [[Conspiracy of the Equals]], in 1796. The harvests were good in the following years and the food supplies improved considerably, but the supply was still precarious in the north, the west, the southeast, and the valley of the Seine.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=209}}