As in neighboring countries, farmers’ demonstrations have been increasing in France in recent days. They denounce the lack of resources and the restrictions targeting their profession. A national demonstration is expected to be announced mid-next week.
After their European neighbors, French farmers are in turn making their anger heard. There were several hundred responding to the call to demonstrate launched by the federation of agricultural operators’ unions (FNSEA) of Haute-Garonne, Thursday January 18. Tractors and straw bales have been blocking traffic on the A 64 motorway between Toulouse and Tarbes for three days. The mobilization, which did not weaken this Saturday, January 20, also affected the Pays de la Loire and Center-Val de Loire on Thursday, where around fifty milk producers organized blockades in front of the Lactalis sites, recalls Franceinfo. They denounce the prices set by the dairy production giant. “Today, Lactalis pays us 40 cents for a liter of milk. My costs for producing this liter of milk are between 60 and 80 cents,” argued the president of the Lactalis du Massif milk producers association. Central on France 3.
Faced with the increase in their production costs, the difficult negotiations with the agro-industry and the ecological standards imposed on them, anger is growing in the agricultural sector and could lead to a major national mobilization, informs Le Figaro. In the meantime, “we are going to organize a regional event probably next week in Occitanie”, announced to the daily, Cécile Imart, head of the FNSEA in Tarn.
What are their demands?
Farmers are demanding the urgent release of the envelopes promised by the State and the rehabilitation of the consumption tax exemption rate on energy products. The gradual elimination of this tax advantage in 2024 would force them to pay more for the diesel used by their agricultural machinery.
Farmers’ unions are also demanding better consideration from the State. “I hear and am very attentive to the expressions of farmers,” replied Marc Fesneau, in The Midday Dispatch, Friday. The Minister of Agriculture must go to a dairy farm in Cher this Saturday.