“Here begins the land of agricultural resistance” is written on a large tarpaulin covering three-meter-high bales of straw on the A64 motorway that runs from Toulouse to Bayonne, near the town of Carbonne. Here they decided to build their resistance camp, which has become the epicenter of the fight against the new government of Gabriel Attal. Increase in spending, ban on pesticides, competitions for Ukrainian products, compensation for the health crisis with delays … and with it a long list of grievances that have burned the patience of a sector that, in France as elsewhere, has opted for the pass in Europe puts greater pressure on administrations.
For days they have been intersecting various sections of this A64 motorway and other roads in the south of the country, very close to the borders with Spain and Andorra. The largest agricultural union (FNSEA) is considering calling for a major nationwide protest in the coming weeks if talks with the new French government stall. Today, Monday, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal meets with the President of the FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, in a meeting that shows how the French government has begun to respond to fears of the outbreak of a serious crisis. In a few hours, the French manager has multiplied his actions and contacts with the industry, aware that the field can be a ticking bomb seven months before the Paris Olympics and with the European election campaign approaching. Knowing that the country cannot now afford a social crisis like the many that hit France last year, President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday for prefects (government delegates in each department) to meet with farmers and ranchers starting this weekend to meet to hear their demands. The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneauvisited a dairy farm this weekend and then took part in a meeting with representatives of agricultural unions to discuss in particular one of the sector's demands, namely administrative simplification.
Faced with these negotiations with the government, the country is raising its tone. “The fatigue that farmers have expressed for months is turning into anger across France. Words are no longer enough,” emphasized the president of the largest agricultural union, Arnaud Rousseau, in a message on social networks. Among all their demands, those of the margins are taking center stage at this time. According to some estimates, net income in this sector would have fallen by 40% on average in 30 years, and farmers are focusing on European environmental standards that have left them defenseless and are becoming an unfair competitive advantage. Irrigation quotas due to severe drought episodes in the context of global warming are also being targeted. The unions are calling on the government to relax some criteria for water use in agriculture. As for the use of pesticides, the unions assume that a 50% reduction in pesticide use by 2030 may not be necessary, considering that, according to the Committee of Professional Associations, only 4.9% of purchases are organic products . Agriculture from the European Union. There is also the question of products from Ukraine. To support its war economy, the EU has made it easier to import certain products such as chicken and sugar. An additional flow of products that, according to some unions, has weakened French agriculture.
Politically, the government fears that the far right could achieve good results in the face of the European elections if the crisis in the countryside worsens. The executive's aim is to avoid images of tractors blocking roads and highways, as has been the case for more than a week. But Le Pen's ranks have also taken action. Your young candidate for the European Championship, Jordan Bardella, visited a farm over the weekend and held meetings with representatives of farmers in the Gironde department in the west of the country, looking to take advantage of the sector's anger.