Ten months after the mobilization of farmers throughout France, a new call for mobilization is launched by the FDSEA and the JA. In Aveyron, the unions remain, for the moment, measured.
The National Federation of Farmers' Unions (FNSEA), and the Young Farmers (JA), the two majority unions, are calling for the mobilizations to resume – after those of last winter – from November 15.
A resumption of actions which coincides with the start of the campaign for the elections of the chambers of agriculture on the one hand, and the negotiations of the free trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries on the other hand . The Aveyron Peasant Confederation was also mobilized on Wednesday November 13 in front of the McDonald's in Millau.
Trade union organizations have been sounding the alarm for weeks, and have had to deal with the dissolution of the National Assembly and the arrival of the Barnier government.
Actions on November 18
In Aveyron, the mobilization is planned for Monday, November 18. Carried out jointly by the FNSEA and the JA unions, this provides for an “SOS” distress light in a field in each region of the department.
“We want a reasoned large-scale mobilization so as not to bother the locals but to show at the national level what we are capable ofconfides Léo Nakich, president of JA in the department, breeder in Nant. We just want to recall the progress we have been calling for on the agricultural side since last winter, undermined by the dissolution. We have won some cases, but many are regulatory. Measures that influence income or the simplification of procedures, particularly on the health side, must be effective.”
A feeling of abandonment
At the dawn of the new legislative elections last spring, the unions organized debates with the candidates on the issue of farmers. “We are always keen to work with our politicians, including MP Jean-François Rousset”Leo Nakich's nuance.
On the website of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, a monitoring of measures in favor of farmers – dating from September 13 – reveals, however, that of the 70 commitments made, “100% are being deployed, 60 out of 70 are already done or are advanced and the remaining 10 are committed with precise planning.”
“We are not a priority”
Marie-Amélie Viargues, president of the FDSEA and dairy cow breeder with her husband in Pruines in the Marcillac valley, nevertheless deplores “a lack of long-term visibility”. “We have been waiting for a breeding plan for a year, she elaborates. The agricultural orientation bill was to be voted on just before the resolution and there it was sent back to Parliament in January. This shows that we are not a priority for the government and instead there is a feeling of abandonment.”
“The agricultural budget will not increase but will remain unchanged, temper Leo Nakich. We just want the government to implement our demands, which are nothing less than common sense. Common sense which would tend towards simplification and could even generate savings.”
Much less radical than in other departments, union representatives nevertheless hope for concrete and rapid actions. FDSEA and JA will also present a joint list for the elections of the Chamber of Agriculture in Aveyron, which will take place from January 7 to 31.
