A few days before the Agricultural Show, the mobilization of farmers continues unabated. At the call of the FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA), a convoy of around forty tractors and hundreds of people from the Provence-Alpes-Cotes d’Azur (PACA) region paraded, Monday February 19, in the center of the Phocaean city, to demand power “live from their profession”.
We want to be able “live from our job, no help”explained Romain Blanchard, president of the FNSEA of Bouches-du-Rhône, recalling that farmers had not stopped but ” suspended “ their protest movement at the end of January.
“The government and the administration have not fully understood our demands”he added, believing that the mobilization of other farmers in different countries of the European Union shows that“we are right, we are right to do what we do”.
“Everything has increased” and this price increase “pulls us down”regretted Charly Recchia, a thirty-year-old who works on a farm in the Var and drove for almost three hours on board his tractor to join the demonstration.
Manure and pallets in front of the prefectures
The demonstrators, who were transporting two trailers of manure, planned to stop in front of the regional directorate of food, agriculture and forestry (DRAAF) and pass near the prefecture.
In the Marne, members of the Young Farmers dumped manure, wheels and pallets on Monday morning in front of the prefecture in Châlons-en Champagne, but also the sub-prefectures of Reims, Vitry and Epernay, to protest against the“inaction” state services after government announcements.
After the promises of the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, at the end of January, “the first exchanges with the Marne prefecture, on February 5, 2024, remained very superficial”, they lament. Hoping for a precise implementation timetable, they “wished to express their determination to maintain the pressure”.
Further north, in Dunkirk, around fifty tractors carried out a snail operation. The demonstrators are also demanding the fulfillment of promises and refusing expropriations of agricultural land as part of the seaport extension project, according to Agence France-Presse.
An Agricultural Show under the sign of anger
” It is enormous “, “that represents fifty farms”and farmers will be compensated for “forest, make green” without having been consulted, underlined Laurent Declercq, breeder in Loon-Plage and president of the cantonal section of the FDSEA union. After briefly blocking access to the port, they gathered in front of the regional environment, planning and housing directorate.
Wednesday in Matignon, three days before the opening of the Agricultural Show, Gabriel Attal will hold a press conference dedicated to the agricultural crisis. Three weeks after a wave of demonstrations, the head of government will discuss the rewriting of the bill suspended at the start of the crisis, as well as the monitoring and execution of the measures already announced by the government, Matignon said.