Retrospective 2024 in the Gers: faced with the difficulties, Gascon agriculture expressed its anger

A year not spared from epizootics

It's been a long time since this happened. The year 2024 will have been a year without avian flu in the department. Since the first duck vaccination campaign in 2023, and the second the following year, the Gers region has not seen any preventive culling on farms. A relief for producers, who thus experienced the first “normal” holiday season in years.

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Unfortunately, however, 2024 will not have been epidemic-free. Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which appeared in 2023, has spread. As of September 25, nearly 500 farms were infected, even if the situation seemed “less bad” than in 2023, “surely due to acquired immunity in some of the animals”, observed Bernard Malabirade, president of the Chamber of Agriculture from the Gers.

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As for Bluetongue (BCF), in the fall, nearly 90 outbreaks were recorded, with “more serious symptoms in sheep than in cattle”. For both epizootics, vaccination is being rolled out slowly, sometimes with difficulties in accessing the product for breeders.

Dams, heavy-handed actions, blockages… Agricultural unhappiness is illustrated

While the actions had started a few days earlier around the Pink City, it was on January 19 that the Gers farmers let their anger and discomfort be expressed. The initiative starts from the canton of Gimont-Saramon and the first dam is built in L'Isle-Jourdain, on the RN124. Three days later, on January 22, it was in Dému that farmers from the Rural Coordination set up a tent and placed agricultural machinery in the middle of the national road, preventing all vehicles from circulating. A few kilometers away, a new dam has been erected at Manciet. They will stay there for several days.

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Among the demands put forward by farmers, a better income, aid to confront Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (MHE, Covid of the cow) or even the zero-rating of non-routed diesel (GNR) and administrative simplification.

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Filter barriers have also been put in place, notably at the Pavie roundabout: cars can pass, but heavy goods vehicle cargo is controlled. Producers note the origin of the foodstuffs transported. Beans from Kenya, chicken from Chile, Bayonne ham from Italy… “We are subject to a lot of regulations in relation to traceability,” recalls a demonstrator, “while other countries are not subject to the same criteria.” Another farmer adds: “We are dying. We produce hyper-controlled products and the Egalim law is not applied.”

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A request for “firmness” addressed to the State and also delivered by operations in Aldi stores in Pavie or Lidl in Fleurance in order to look at the traceability of the products. From Mirande, with the installation of a filter dam, to Paris – Gersois from Rural Coordination take part in the convoy to Rungis – the mobilization continues until the long-awaited announcements from Gabriel Attal. On January 26, while the Prime Minister was scheduled to speak during the day, the Gers tractors set off and headed east to Blagnac airport and to the west to Eauze.

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No increase in GNR, sanctions for non-compliance with the Egalim law, simplification, aid for breeders affected by MHE and for the organic sector… The measures announced by the government are closely examined by farmers. The L'Isle-Jourdain dam is lifted on Saturday January 27, followed by those of Dému and Manciet at the start of the week. But vigilance is required: the Gersois want to ensure the application of these “interesting measures” and are talking about a possible return to the Gers roads. Act I is over but mobilization remains essential.

Bad weather for cereals

Bad years also follow one another for cereal growers with a 2024 harvest well below what they could have hoped for. Heavy rains are also the main culprit: they led to poor fertilization and therefore low yields. For wheat, the harvest was “catastrophic”, according to Stéphane Zanchetta, co-president of the FDSEA, with yields oscillating between 25 and 75 quintals per hectare, when they are, in good years, between 50 and 80 quintals. A national trend: the statistical service of the Ministry of Agriculture estimates the harvest in France at less than 30 million tonnes in 2024, compared to more than 35 million in 2023.

Act 2: farmers rise up against Mercosur

The second act of the agricultural mobilizations had already been brewing for several months. All summer, radars had been covered in the department. But it was on November 18 that the first large-scale action was organized jointly by the Young Farmers and the FDSEA. Dozens of tractors meet in Auch, first at the Justes roundabout, then at Patte d'Oie.

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They believe that their demands from the beginning of the year have not been heard and denounce the free trade agreement with the countries of South America, Mercosur, which the European Commission signed while a almost everywhere in France, the anger of farmers. The uncertainty that also hangs over France, following the dissolution of the National Assembly, is pushing farmers to speak out.

In the Gers, the mobilization, also followed by Rural Coordination, continued for several weeks, while the prefect, Laurent Carrié, popular with farmers, left his position for the Elysée. Municipal signs placed in front of Sainte-Marie cathedral, filter dam at the Saint-Cricq roundabout, dumping of shredded paper in front of the prefecture… The demonstrators occupy the land and obtain a fiscal boost concerning the property tax on undeveloped properties (TFNB), November 21.

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For Young Farmers and the FDSEA, mobilization continues through exchanges, meetings and field visits. But on December 5, the Peasant Confederation made itself heard in Paris, in front of the Grand Palais, on the occasion of the 64th European Stock Exchange. Rural Coordination continues its large-scale actions. On December 12, a veritable wall was erected in a few hours at the Saint-Cricq roundabout in Auch, blocking traffic on the RN124. This “Wall of idiots”, as the farmers call it, is the last action of the year in the Gers. Despite the formalization of the end of the Mercosur negotiations, the mobilized farmers assure us, they will not give up their weapons.

A rare 2024 vintage but with certain qualities

Spared by frost and hailstorms, Gers wine growers hoped to be able to breathe in 2024, after several very difficult years. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed, along with the Gers vineyards. In June, a storm brings between 100 and 200 mm of rain. Excessive humidity sets in. Consequence: the vines experience coulure and millerandage phenomena. Vincent Piquemal, president of the Independent Winegrowers of Gascony, then estimated, in mid-October, the production for 2024 at 1.35 million hectoliters of wine, when the Gers has a capacity of around 1.8 million. That's a loss of almost 25%, “the lowest harvest we've seen in the last decade, or even the last 20 years”, thought Vincent Piquemal. The colombard is particularly concerned.

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However, if the quantity was not there, the quality seems to be. The sun and the heat, without being scorching, bathed the Gascony vines, favoring “the synthesis by the plant of aromatic precursors”, explained Alain Desprats, president of the Côtes de Gascogne union. “It’s a vintage on which we have a lot of hope,” particularly in an already complicated economic and political context. In addition to difficult harvests, there are external events, such as Chinese taxes on Armagnac, the war in Ukraine and even the “Trump” taxes. Gers wine growers are therefore counting on the quality of the vintage to win back export markets.