Angry farmers begin second week of mobilization

Rally in front of the Pas-de-Calais prefecture, filter dams on the A21 motorway, wall in front of the Ardennes prefecture… Farmers began a second week of mobilization on Monday, November 25, a few weeks before their professional elections.

In Arras, around a hundred of them converged on the prefecture at the start of the morning, crossing the town on around fifty tractors, before dumping bales of straw, pallets, tires and manure in front of the prefecture, noted a journalist from the Agence France-Presse (AFP). According to Patrick Legras, farmer and president of Rural Coordination (CR) for Hauts-de-France, “income problems are fundamental for at least 50% of farmers”.

“The year was catastrophic in many areas (cereals, bluetongue, etc.) on livestock farms. The only thing we are offered are loans to repay loans”he lamented. “We are always asked for more low-cost products and that is not possible, with standards that are ever more important to us”for his part, underlined Damien Salomon, co-president of the CR of Pas-de-Calais.

“Stop the regulations that are killing our jobs”

After a first week of mobilizations against the free trade treaty that the European Union is negotiating with the Latin American countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), agricultural unions are continuing their actions to denounce the «obstacles» and the “standards”.

In the Ardennes, the Departmental Federation of Farmers' Unions (FDSEA) took action against the prefecture of Charleville-Mézières, and the sub-prefectures of Sedan, Rethel and Vouziers. According to the prefecture, 121 tractors and 178 farmers were mobilized in the department.

With concrete blocks and cement, “we are going to build walls to represent the distance that separates the farmer and the administration”declared Thierry Huet, facilitator of the FDSEA des Ardennes to AFP. “The message is stop over-transpositions, stop regulations that are killing our jobsadded Mr. Huet. Today agriculture has three essential problems: there is no money, while we have had a catastrophic year in terms of climate, there is the FCO [fièvre catarrhale ovine] and prices which are not remunerative. »

In Vierzon, in the Cher, several dozen farmers organized, at the call of the Rural Coordination, filter dams on the A20 motorway linking Toulouse to Paris, targeting French and foreign refrigerated heavy goods vehicles. According to Bison futé, two filter dams were put in place on Monday in the Toulouse-Vierzon direction then at the A20/A71 toll barrier.

Members of the Nièvre Rural Coordination also blocked access to a central supply of fresh products for Leclerc stores in Avermes, near Moulins, in Allier, before lifting the blockade at the end of the day. -noon, according to Noël Deneuville, member of CR 58. Tires and waste were dumped on the ground and mannequins were hung from trees.

In Haute-Savoie, around ten tractors carried out actions to block logistics platforms at Rumilly and Alby-sur-Chéran at the call of Rural Coordination, without interrupting traffic, according to the prefecture.