D-7 before the opening of the Paris Agricultural Show, the traditional meeting of the President of the Republic with professionals in the sector. Until then, the executive is determined to do everything to calm the anger of farmers and avoid a bad reception for Emmanuel Macron on February 24.
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It’s a decisive week that begins and to hear a member of the government, “ everyone gears up », starting with the Prime Minister who according to him “ don’t want to miss » in the management of the farmers’ crisis. Gabriel Attal spends “ lot of energy » to reassure them, he met them at Matignon. He went into the field several times – again last Thursday in Marne – and he even asked his Minister of the Interior to pass an instruction to the prefects: so that they can contact farmers throughout the weekend “.
The prefects, missi dominici of the government, must “ continue the dialogue ” And ” accelerate » the implementation of solutions because farmers expect concrete results, explains Valérie Gas, from the RFI political service. The Minister of Agriculture is on deck 100% of his time and Emmanuel Macron is also helping out since he discreetly visited a farm in Doubs.
Difficulties linked to drought
On the ground, climate change is one of the causes of farmers’ difficulties, particularly in the south of the country. In the Pyrénées-Orientales department, the prolonged drought is endangering the vines, explains Claude Demonte, winegrower in Argelès-sur-Mer for 24 years, at the microphone ofIgor Strauss.
“ It was really in 2023 that we saw drought on the vines which did not grow. There should be a surge of sap and there is absolutely nothing. So are they going to leave again? Are they dead? Are they alive? And even if the vines are robust, if the roots go deep, the problem for our department is that the drought is deep, it is not just on the surface, so that is what is worrying for We. So on production for 2023, we are 30% less compared to 2022 which is already a difficult year. »
For 2024, the winegrower fears that there will be no harvest at all. “ There have already been bankruptcy filings in certain sectors, winegrowers who have already given up after a year, and I fear there will be many more in 2024 », concludes Claude Demonte.
The President of the Republic received and will receive again next week at the Élysée the representatives of the sector’s trade union organizations. Farmers, at least until the Agricultural Show, are the government’s priority issue.
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