The past year has been marked in the agricultural world by a series of demonstrations which ended up on the benches of government inertia, a consequence of the dissolution of the National Assembly.
Vaucluse did not escape this anger with targeted actions which spared neither mass distribution – accused of taking advantage of the wine crisis to put pressure on prices – nor the administrations perceived as obstacles causing a distortion of competition harmful to French winegrowers.
Borne, Attal, Barnier, Bayrou: four governments in one year… a record! Without doubt, 2024 will go down in history as the year of standing stillthe one during which the agricultural unions had a hard time finding a reliable interlocutor… Their demands focused on non-road diesel, environmental standards, remuneration, emergency funds, the CAP… For the most part, they remained a dead letter…
A look back at the significant episodes of this very unique period which began in January 2024, notably with motorway blockages which culminated in the siege of Paris…
January 16 : farmers target the prefecture and the Auchan hypermarket
In the morning, farmers from Vaucluse and Gard arrive with their tractors on Boulevard Limbert near the prefecture in Avignon. Concert of horns, explosions and smoke bombs. “Without the peasants, there is hunger“, can we read on a sign… Traffic is blocked and in front of the prefecture gates, bales of straw and piles of agricultural plastic are burning.
After this long sequence along the ramparts, the procession of farmers heads towards the Auchan hypermarket – Le Pontet, symbol of large distribution which – they say – takes them by the throat. Bins of waste are dumped in front of an entrance to the store and some clashes occur between demonstrators, security guards and police inside the shopping mall.
Friday January 26 : Gabriel Attal’s announcements
The Prime Minister, visiting a farm in Haute Garonne, announces a whole series of measures to emerge from the agricultural crisis. Simplification of procedures, strengthening of the Egalim law, acceleration of emergency aid, simplification of the CAP, cancellation of taxation of GNR, non-road diesel for agricultural machinery which has seen taxes increase suddenly in recent months…
Friday February 2 : a symbolic coffin in front of the Maison des vins
The announcements made by the Prime Minister were not enough : actions are multiplying. And even if the FDSEA of Vaucluse and the Young Farmers called for the blockages to be lifted until the agricultural show, some 300 Drôme and Vaucluse winegrowers demonstrate this Friday morning in the streets of Avignon intramural. Where they do not go unnoticed and not just because of the noise they make with their pans and the signs they wave, but because they carry around a coffin on which we can read “here lies the last winegrower of the Côtes du Rhône”.
They will place this coffin in front of the Maison des Vins where an Inter Rhône board of directors meeting is being held. They come to ask the members of the board of directors to clean up.
« Merchants who import foreign wine must resign from Inter Rhône» forcefully proclaim the demonstrators.
Monday November 5 : winegrowers destroy wine bottles
Gabriel Attal's announcements and promises are nothing more than a distant memory. Dissolution of the National Assembly, legislative elections, new government… In the absence of a reliable interlocutor, the angry movement of farmers is starting again and the returned signs are flourishing again in the villages.
In Orange, a commando of wine growers raids the Lidl supermarket to empty bottles of Côtes-du-Rhône wines sold for 1.99 euro per unit and 3.38 euros for both (bottles they bought). A declaration of war for these winegrowers.
Other medium and large stores will subsequently be targeted, mainly around Orange and Bollène. We can cite the Grand Frais store and the Carrefour hypermarket in the Coudoulet shopping area in Orange on December 19.
November 18th : farmers block the bridge’Europe
Also at war with Brussels who tries to impose the Mercosur free trade treaty on them, the FDSEA and the Young Farmers of Vaucluse choose a symbolic and strategic place to express their anger: the bridge which crosses the Rhône in Avignon between the Gard and the Vaucluse, through which transit thousands of vehicles every day.
« C’is a firstAndre stage whose aim is to’alert the European Commissionandenne at the momentu the G20 begins in Brazil, one of the countries pushing to impose this free trade treaty » says Jordan Charransol, president of the JA 84.
In addition to the partial blocking of the bridge’Europe, demonstrators plant crops on the groundin front of the bridge’Avignon, various cultures drawing the message “Our end will be your hunger” before a meeting with the prefect. For the farmers' spokesperson, Sylvain Bernard, secretary general of the FDSEA, the account is not there: “ We expected more” he declares,demanding rapid and concrete measuresAndtes to get out of the crisis
November 27 : the seat of the administrative city
The word d’agenda is to target the administrations, agencies and services of the State which symbolize the over-constraint and over-regulation that farmers face. Leaving the House of’agriculture at Agroparc, they leave in procession with their tractors towards the administrative city… via the Marseille road where they make a tough stop at the MSA offices. Before going to besiege the administrative city.
Monday December 3 : « 120 €/hl, this is the floor price for the survival of the vineyard »
Press conference at the Maison des vins in Avignon. Around the table, Damien Gilles, president of the Syndicat général des Côtes du Rhône, Philippe Pellaton, president of Inter Rhône and Samuel Montgermont, president of the Union of Rhône wine houses.
For Damien Gilles, the observation is simple: regional Côtes du Rhône must not sell to production below 120 €/hl during the 2024/2025 campaign. An essential floor price calculated from recognized economic indicators.
« We must be able to guarantee decent income for producers. » hammer for his part Philippe Pellaton.
All representatives of the Rhône Valley wine industry seem to agree, including the wine trade.
December 13 : haro on traders who practice purchase prices that are too low
On this day of the appointment of a new Prime Minister, the winegrowers of Gard, Drôme and Ardèche join their colleagues from Vaucluse for targeted action against traders who practice “purchase prices for wines that are not remunerative and not appropriate for the work we provide” as stated by the president of the JA du Gard Romain Angelras.
« Today, there is a minimum price to maintain for the Côtes du Rhône, it is 120 €/hlotherwise the story is over for everyone »also hammered the president of the General Union of Côtes du Rhône winegrowers Damien Gilles.
First targeted, the bulk trader Robert Brunel in Mornas. The police were on site. To the sound of firecrackers, the procession then took the road towards Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes and the cellar of the Friedmann establishments, another merchant-bulker. Before visiting Violès, the wine merchant Lavau.
Exchanges under palpable tension at the end of which the traders agreed that a purchase price of 120 €/hlwas acceptable. Temporary end of the story.
Next Farmers Chapter Monday January 13, 2025
Monday January 13, 2025, is the day chosen by Prime Minister François Bayrou to receive in turn the representatives of the Peasant Confederation, the FNSEA and Young Farmers. Without forgetting those from Rural Coordination who decided to mobilize to increase the pressure without waiting for the meeting in Matignon.
A way to stand out from other agricultural unions just before the elections in the Chambers of Agriculture scheduled for January 15, 2025. Farmers will then vote to elect their union representatives who have a strong influence on agricultural policy.
