“Nearly 85 departments will be taking action,” according to FNSEA president
Access to water, rising costs and taxes, “lack of transparency and non-applicability” of regulations, gradual disappearance of active solutions (Benfluralin for endives, Movento for strawberries, dimethoate and phosmet for cherries), along with unfair foreign competition, health crises in livestock farming. All in all, French farmers feel “neglected” and have decided to take action, after months spent alerting the public authorities.
@Jeunes Agriculteurs Occitanie
Roadblocks, in towns and on highways, and demonstrations in front of some supermarket chains: farmers are “determined to be heard.” The actions began in the Occitania region on January 18th, before spreading throughout the country. Today, the protests are gaining ground, with various actions taking place in parts of the Hauts de France, Brittany, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Auvergne Rhône Alpes regions.
Very disrupted traffic on the ringroad of #Niort . At 3:45pm, farmers' trucks were on the road to #Parthenay , heading towards Noron pic.twitter.com/JnuSj86U1S
— France Bleu Poitou (@Bleu_Poitou) January 23rd, 2024
Arnaud Gaillot of Jeunes agriculteurs and Arnaud Rousseau, president of FNSEA, on January 22nd, after meeting with newly-appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal / © Screenshot FranceInfo
#OnMarcheSurLaTête
At the root of this wave of protests is another movement (“On marche sur la tête”), which began at the end of last year in the Tarn region of France, and has since spread throughout the country.
Initiated by the two agricultural unions FNSEA and JA, thousands of signs have been turned upside down to “denounce the contradictory injunctions” of the French government.
©Jeunes Agriculteurs Hautes-Pyrénées
A movement of “unprecedented” scale
This movement of “unprecedented” scale, according to the unions, is set to continue “for as long as it is necessary, as long as there are no concrete measures” from the government, warned the FNSEA president. The government, for its part, promised to make “announcements in the coming days.”
#OnMarcheSurLaTete “At this point, blocking Paris is not an option. But if we are left unheard and scorned, things could evolve. In 🇫🇷, the anger is everywhere and it is important to show it.” @rousseautrocy #FNSEA https://t.co/AFfS6rcBmd @telematin pic.twitter.com/J1QMwQGUyQ
— FNSEA (@FNSEA) January 24th, 2024
According to some operators present at Rungis and Perpignan, the logistics chain has suffered some disruption, with delivery delays observed since the beginning of the week.