The FNSEA and the JA have launched a call for mobilization throughout France. In Nièvre, the same unions are not against anything, but will organize themselves initially. The other agricultural unions will not march alongside them.
Farmers are called to return to the streets on Friday November 15. This call comes from the union coalition of the FNSEA and the JA. In Nièvre, their departmental counterparts could join the movement, but later. In question, the departmental congress of the JA58 and the FDSEA. Asked about their motivation for joining the movement, the two unions are convinced, “too many things are wrong”.
The congress will also be an opportunity for both unions to organize. But for the moment, no one is commenting on a date for the local demonstration.
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However, there are many reasons for them to return to the streets. Among the JA58, Benjamin Maillot is still angry since the last mobilization: “We had nothing compared to the big demonstrations. Farm cash flow is dry. »
Before returning to the streets, we will organize ourselves. It's not two of us going to go there.
Some farmers went to the Regional Council on October 18 to make their anger heard. “If nothing has changed by the next council, we will be in front, with the tractors, and not to lay down hay. It was the calmest ones who made the trip,” says the JA58 farmer before adding, “in any case, we know they won’t have done anything.”
This animosity towards the Region, for the farmer, comes mainly “from their inability to distribute aid from Europe. It's a lack of skill. »
For Benjamin Maillot, the illness of farmers is also a French illness: “If everyone could eat properly, we would not have a problem in agriculture. If we go to the streets, it's so that the French can eat properly. What manager is capable of saying “eat shit”?
An agreement that does not pass
The farmer refers in particular to the Mercosur agreement which is once again on the table. This agreement provides for the importation of products from South America, but produced, under very different rules, from France and Europe. For French farmers, “it’s unfair competition. »
The problem is purchasing power. If the French could buy our products, there would be no problem. The constraints on our ways of producing are onerous and this has repercussions on the consumer basket. Despite that, we just want to live from our passion.
“I just want to make a living from my job without going to demonstrate. If I earn a minimum wage per month and I live peacefully, I sign for life like that and I stop joining a union. But we're not there. »
Emmanuel Bernard of the FDSEA, on Mercosur, deplores “the disconnect between policies and public opinion. This agreement was imagined 25 years ago. Nothing has changed inside. If anyone has common sense, they would see that the realities of agriculture are no longer the same. »
The representative of the FDSEA also mentions the financial difficulties of the farms, in particular due to the weather conditions which have undermined the yields and the quality of the harvests.
Farmers' unions call for a resumption of demonstrations “from November 15”
For him, the fight is above all legislative. “We are impatiently awaiting the finance law. This should simplify regulatory aspects. Today the administrative mille-feuille is too complicated. There are also aberrations in taxation, some farmers are not taxable on paper, but find themselves being taxed on all the standards and obligations requested,” explains Emmanuel Bernard.
What the FDSEA wants is “more departmental flexibility. For harvesting or grinding, we are constrained by national dates. But the reality is nevertheless very different between the south and the north of France. »
This is particularly the case with the wolf. “Everyone agrees that the wolf present in Nièvre is deviant. But national legislation prevents us from acting effectively. If decisions could be made locally, solutions could have been found. We must give ourselves the means. »
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What saddens Emmanuel Bernard is “the certain loss of several farmers. The prefect should have the power to change things. We know that we are going to lose sheep breeders. They will give up. These leaders do not look everywhere. The prefect should have the power to change things. »
For him, before returning to the streets, he must first meet the new prefect of Nièvre and hopes that she will be present at their general assembly.
The other unions do not follow
The Confédération Paysanne could also return to the streets, but not alongside the FNSEA. Sylvain Ratheau wishes to emphasize “the contradictions of these unions. They blame things, but they have always been able to participate in decisions.”
They talk about standards, we are more about remuneration. The leaders of the FNSEA make fun of their members, we are in the same situation. It’s not the standards that bother my neighbors who are at the FDSEA, but their income. It is our agricultural independence that we must discuss.
For Sylvain Ratheau, this demonstration “is a coup to mobilize the troops before the elections in the chambers of agriculture and to forget their record in the latter. »
Bernard Blondeau from Rural Coordination is on the same line. He declares that his union will not take part in any demonstration with the FNSEA “If we are here, it is entirely their fault. »
Simon Dubos
