Farmers on the road, here in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, in Lot-et-Garonne to go, at the call of Rural Coordination, to the market of national interest (MIN) in Rungis, January 29 2024 (AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
“Brigitte, prepare the soup, we’re coming!”: farmers took to the road on Monday in Agen, at the call of the Rural Coordination (CR), to “invest” the market of national interest (MIN) in Rungis , where armored gendarmerie vehicles await them.
Around thirty tractors left from the cattle market, in the Agen area. “We will not die in silence,” launched a banner at the head of the convoy which set off at 30 km/h on small roads before taking the highway further along the route.
At the end of the afternoon after passing through the Dordogne, the procession was now made up of 90 tractors and around forty cars, according to the CR in Haute-Vienne which was to welcome it in the evening in the Limoges area.
Other farmers from this department and Charente should further increase the workforce which will leave Tuesday morning towards Rungis, south of Paris, where the union plans to arrive “Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning”.
“The idea is to bring together all of deep France around us,” Serge Bousquet-Cassagne, president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Lot-et-Garonne and historic figure of the CR47 who started the movement.
The convoy was applauded by around a hundred people at its first stop in the village of Cancon (Lot-et-Garonne), “hazelnut capital” in the land of prunes. “We take care of the livestock, please take care of Attal,” asked a sign in the crowd.
– “Hold on for a long time” –
Farmers on the road, here in La Croix-Blanche, in Lot-et-Garonne to go, at the call of Rural Coordination, to the market of national interest (MIN) in Rungis, January 29, 2024 (AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
The procession is accompanied by a truck which ensures the logistics of the operation. “We have supplies so as not to die of hunger, including tractors,” explained his driver, Patrick Jouy, 70, market gardener in Sainte-Livrade-sur-Lot, while pastries and flags were distributed before departure.
Inside, a fuel tank to refuel the smaller tractors, food, tables, a few mattresses and a brazier “to cook the meat”. Resupplies are planned on the road and in Rungis.
To last for how long? “Eight days, 15 days if necessary, we will manage,” assures the farmer. “We are determined but the duration is indeterminate (…) We will surely come back without having everything we want but we will hold out as long as we can.”
“I took three things to change but without a shower, I think we will stink of death,” joked a young farmer from the Gers. “We’re also going there to make Parisians aware that it’s us who feed them. For them, we’re just jerks.”
Farmers on the road, here in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, in Lot-et-Garonne to go, at the call of Rural Coordination, to the market of national interest (MIN) in Rungis, January 29 2024 (AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
According to the authorities, the police will have to act with “moderation” to “secure” the blockage points announced by other agricultural unions around Paris and ensure that the Rungis market “can function”.
– “Not bandits” –
From Sunday evening, armored vehicles were deployed around the MIN. What to resist the invader? “We don’t hit. Unless we are hit, it’s like rugby,” Serge Bousquet-Cassagne underlined on Monday.
“We are not here to bust a cop, we are not bandits. We want to have answers, it’s really a question of survival,” added Karine Duc, 38-year-old winemaker and co-president of CR47. .
The union, accustomed to punchy actions, was very mobilized last week, occupying the A62 motorway, dumping slurry and lighting a big fire in front of the prefecture after a stormy meeting.
Largely in the majority in Lot-et-Garonne, he admits having announced the Rungis operation “a little alone”, exchanging only with the CR of Haute-Vienne which also controls the departmental chamber of agriculture.
A farmer at the wheel of his tractor, in Villeneuve-sur-Lot, in Lot-et-Garonne to go, at the call of Rural Coordination, to the market of national interest (MIN) in Rungis, on 29 January 2024 (AFP/Christophe ARCHAMBAULT)
“They are right to go to Rungis because it is the symbol of free trade. But they, unlike us, want to adapt to the logic of competition and free trade. We are calling it into question” , comments Emmanuel Aze, representative of the Peasant Confederation in Agen.
FDSEA 47 favors local actions. “It is difficult to work with the Rural Coordination which criticizes us all year round,” says Alain Briffeille, its secretary general.
© 2024 AFP
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