“This is a farmer’s tool: a computer and a printer. I spend more time in the office than in the fields.” Eyes glued to his screen, Kévin Brouillard lets out a sigh. This 32-year-old farmer feels “suffocated”. Suffocated by numerous European and French administrative standards, suffocated by debts, stifled by unfair competition which causes the price of its production to fall.
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At the head of 350 hectares in Essonne, he cultivates cereals, beets, corn and onions. Kevin Brouillard inherited his land and his know-how from his father, who died in 2023. “Even he, at the time, he wanted to stop… The profession of farmer, in a word, is: difficult . Galleys upon galleys,” asserts Kévin.
” The drop of water that breaks the camel’s back »
In the space of three years, a tonne of wheat has gone from 300 to 180 euros, to which are added poor yields linked to climate change. The farmer earns 1,200 euros in a good month, but during the summer, he is unable to pay himself a salary, “and it’s not going to work out with the signing of Mercosur”, he believes. .
Added to the already difficult daily life is the fear of unfair competition from Argentina and Brazil, where production is subject to fewer restrictions than in France. The ratification of the Mercosur free trade treaty on December 6, 2024, makes it possible to import more goods from Latin America into Europe, with reduced customs duties. To remain attractive on the world market, farmers must adapt their prices.
For Kévin Brouillard, it’s “the straw that breaks the camel’s back”. Already present during the agricultural mobilizations in January 2023, he assures, he will continue to “fight” and has already planned other actions before the end of the year. His yellow Rural Coordination cap pulled down on his head, he repeats, he will not let “farmers die in silence”.
