This 60e edition of the major agricultural meeting will have been marked from its opening by the rowdy visit of the Head of State, marked by boos and clashes of rare intensity. In the midst of a crisis in the sector, the 2024 Agricultural Show, which closes its doors on the evening of Sunday March 3, welcomed 603,652 visitors, its organizers announced after eight days of opening to the general public.
Attendance is down slightly (−2%) compared to last year, when 615,204 visitors were recorded. The president of the Salon, Jean-Luc Poulain, spoke of a “complicated edition, especially at the start of the show”but also a popular festival always acclaimed by the public, “came many” meeting farmers.
It evaluates to ” around 20 % “ the drop in attendance on the first two days, but ensures that the entry figures on the following days were better than last year, with more than 100,000 visitors on the second Saturday. But if, at the start of the week, certain exhibitors complained of a shortfall in earnings, these complaints “are extinct today” : “I think they also caught up during the week”reported Mr. Poulain, a cereal grower in Oise, who chaired the event for the last time.
The National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), the main agricultural union, for its part regretted “ a missed appointment » with the executive during the Show, due to lack of ” strategy “ clear, and warns that “actions on the ground” will continue. “We will continue to have actions on the ground” after the event, because “ on the political level things are clearly not over”declared Sunday morning the president of the union, Arnaud Rousseau, on BFM-TV.
The embers of anger still “burning”
After the government’s promises, operators are waiting for “very concrete achievements” on their farm, and even if the FNSEA does not call for a national mobilization, “each department retains the initiative to be able to take a certain number of actions”he explained. “The embers are hot”, “nothing is over”underlined the union leader, who deplored the start of the Salon “ more than chaotic ».
“We consider that we missed an appointment. We expected from the President of the Republic a strategy and the definition of a course for agriculture”, added Jérome Despey, first vice-president of the union, to Agence France-Presse. If he welcomes Emmanuel Macron’s commitment to recognizing agriculture “as a major general interest of the nation”he regrets a political message blurred by “verbal jousting and awkwardness” and a lack of consideration for “intermediate bodies”.
When the Elysée, on the eve of the show, announces a major debate for which it is – briefly – considered inviting the environmentalist collective of Earth Uprisings, it is for the union ” the provocation ” too many – leading to the complete cancellation of the debate the day before the head of state’s visit, Saturday February 24.
And if the union says it has taken note of the government’s numerous announcements, including “many are going in the right direction”he expects “specific elements” on simplification and competitiveness, before the expected presentation at the end of March of a major agricultural orientation law. But some ads “ are not very clear »particularly in terms of simplification, said Mr. Rousseau.
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Mr. Despey also mentions the need for progress on the question of pensions, the variation of simplification for hedges… But also a great reason for satisfaction : “Many visitors came to give us their support. I have never seen such support from our fellow citizens”saluting the role of the Agricultural Show as a link between cities and countryside.
Ground for confrontation ahead of the European elections
Asked about the reflection that the organizers of the event want to carry out on the reception of politicians, the president of the Salon recalled on Sunday that he was “a private room” : “You come by invitation or you buy your ticket, but it is not because you are a politician that you are on conquered territory and that you must demand everything from the Salon. »
Referring to the disrupted visit of Emmanuel Macron, which delayed the opening of the event to the public – even if it was ultimately able to take place and last thirteen hours – Mr. Poulain tempered, declaring that “It created a stir, but if the president had not come here, it would have [eu lieu lors de la visite] of the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister had not come either, it would have been the Minister of Agriculture”. Before adding: “I thank the president (…). There, we cleared the liability in four to five hours, because everything crystallized on him. And anyway, this anger had to come out. »
In addition to Emmanuel Macron’s visit, the ministers of ecological transition and agriculture, Christophe Béchu and Marc Fesneau, were the target of egg throwing and whistles on Friday 1er March, forcing them to cut their visit short.
An unmissable political event, the Agricultural Show was also a site of political confrontation between the presidential camp and the National Rally in view of the European elections in June.