Nine months after the crisis that paralyzed France, will there be an Act II? For several weeks now, the agricultural world has been rumbling with anger, convinced that its voice has not been heard. Mobilization is visible, but still silent. Tarpaulin-covered signs have been put up in front of prefectures, or removed from their premises. “Because we’re moving forward blindly, we don’t know where we’re going any more”, says Thibaut Trucchi, leader of the Jeunes farmers from Gard.
“We spend more and more time in the tractors to avoid the diseases linked to humidity, such as mildew, for sales prices that collapse and costs that explode,” he continues. They talk to us about food sovereignty. All we’re asking is to be able to ensure it, without being strangled by standards, without the elimination of molecules when there are no alternatives, and with fair remuneration.”
Ministerial announcements
At the beginning of the year, these same signs had been returned, “because we were walking on our heads”. For farmers, too little has changed since then. “We have made some progress,” says Arnaud Rousseau, President of the FNSEA. Like the “European modifications on environmental constraints”. Or taxes on non-road diesel fuel. On Tuesday, during a visit to theAudeMinister Annie Genevard also presented two tools to support the cash flow of the most distressed farmers. “A short-term loan for cyclical difficulties”, said the Minister, as the French government negotiates a reduced rate with the banking sector, “between 1.5% and 2%”. A longer-term loan, for those who have their backs against the wall and will be able to restructure their debts.
But other promises are virtually at a standstill. The question of standardswhich is at the throat of many professionals. And the essential question of income. “We have the feeling that things aren’t moving forward,” says Arnaud Rousseau. In Bagnols-sur-Cèze (Gard), farmers have emptied the shelves of Côte du Rhône wines offered at 1.39 euros a bottle. “The winegrowers saw this as a betrayal, a degradation of their work. These are intolerable practices,” says Roman Angelras, president of the Jeunes agriculteurs du Gard. When you consider how much a bottle costs…”
Many problems, many announcements
Each sector faces different problems. Like the terrible wine crisis in the south of France, the reduction in milk collection by Lactalis in Western France. Or the impact of bad weather on historically low harvest levels across the country (23% drop in production), and on fruit harvesting and vegetables. Between the lack of water in Roussillon and excessive rainfall elsewhere. “France is experiencing its worst wheat harvest in forty years,” stress Pierre Thomas and Frédéric Mazier, vice-presidents of Modef. Health crises such as bluetongue, epizootic haemorrhagic disease and bird flu, which are affecting many livestock farms, are also on the agenda… Each sector is looking for answers.
Will there be new blockades? Farmers don’t necessarily agree on how to act. On the one hand, there are hardliners such as the Coordination rurale du Lot-et-Garonne, who threaten to “block rail freight in the South-West” and “starve Toulouse”. Others feel that the February blockades have cost a huge amount in investment, for a meagre profit, and are considering other forms of action.
Rejection of the Mercosur agreement
But all are united around a common challenge: the possible ratification in mid-November of the agreements between the European Union and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Bolivia). “This agreement means 99,000 tonnes of beef imported into Europe. […] from breeding countries using antibiotics, growth hormones or insecticides banned in France, with virtually non-existent traceability”, warns the FNSEA.
On Monday, more than two hundred MPs, from the ecologists to the French Liberal Party (LR), urged President Emmanuel Macron to do everything in their power to “block its conclusion”. If ratified, these agreements could lead to a new explosion in the world of agriculture…