Anger is brewing among Gard farmers. This Monday, November 18, the agricultural unions FDSEA and Young Farmers are calling for a massive mobilization to denounce the Mercosur treaty. Several significant actions are expected throughout the department.
Agriculture is going through a period of great turbulence. The main agricultural unions, led by FDSEA and Young Farmers, denounce the Mercosur free trade treaty. The latter, facilitating the importation of agricultural products from South America subject to less strict standards than those imposed on French farmers, sounds like “unfair competition which undermines our local farms”, say the unions.
Also read: Agricultural crisis in Gard: “What is the government waiting for? That there are 300, 400, 500 suicides? »
But this mobilization goes beyond the single issue of Mercosur. The agricultural world is in the midst of a structural crisis: difficulty in renewing generations, wine crisis, epidemic of bluetongue, failures of agricultural insurance, and drop in harvests – particularly wine crops, with a decline of around 25% this year due to climatic hazards…. Problems which exacerbate the feeling of abandonment felt by Gard farmers.
David Sève, president of the FDSEA, announces numerous actions across the entire department this Monday evening. © AV
Actions announced in the department
In Gard, as everywhere in France, protest actions are planned. In Nîmes, farmers are organizing filter dams at the Saint-Césaire roundabout, near McDonald's. “Fires of anger could be lit,” warns David Sève, president of the FDSEA. The slogan of the mobilization “You won't cash in until we cash in”, illustrates agricultural unhappiness. “Everywhere in the department, punchy actions are planned for this Monday evening,” adds David Sève. A show of force reminiscent of that at the start of the year, when the highway was blocked for ten days…
To be continued..
Also read:
Bagnols-sur-Cèze: in a supermarket, Gard wine growers denounce the devaluation of their products
Defending Gard agriculture: the FNSEA listens to local specificities
The signs of the municipalities of Gard hung on the gates of the prefecture by the farmers
