A hundred angry farmers in front of the Marne prefecture

“We can’t take the paperwork anymore” : the sign is placed on a pile of manure just in front of the main entrance to the Marne prefecture hotel in Châlons-en-Champagne this Friday, October 18. Around a hundred farmers, accompanied by around ten tractors, demonstrated at the call of the FDSEA and Young Farmers against the stacking of standards. An image that recalls the historic mobilizations of farmers last winter who accompanied blockages and snail operations.

The farmers are at it again because nothing has changed according to the FDSEA with regard to administrative and regulatory simplification and the new nitrate directive of September 1 is the straw that breaks the camel’s back for these demonstrators. This directive, which they consider “inapplicable”, provides in particular for new periods of ban on spreading. The FDSEA also calls for a simplification of procedures for maintaining watercourses, during periods of flooding and in the context of climate change.

Invited to our colleagues from France Bleu Roussillon this Friday, October 18, the new Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard assured that she “heard the distress” of farmers, particularly because of “climatic conditions”. She promises that “all commitments” made by the previous government to respond to the agricultural crisis will be “budgetarily kept”. The finance bill for 2025 is currently being examined in the National Assembly.