Lhe first tractors left around 6 a.m. from Mirambeau, from the south of the department. Escorted by the gendarmes, the convoy marked FDSEA and Young Farmers (JA) swelled little by little throughout the morning before arriving, around 10:30 a.m., at Yves. Around fifty agricultural vehicles then began to parade on the RD 137, between Yves and Châtelaillon-Plage, before reaching their target: the Yves marsh nature reserve.
It must be said that in addition to the well-known demands of recent months – too low income, excessive procedures, Mercosur, etc. –, the Charentais-Maritime farmers were keen, this Tuesday, December 3, to highlight a very local anxiety: the decline of agricultural land. “We are losing land every day,” insists the FDSEA president of the Chamber of Agriculture, Cédric Tranquard. He mentions nearly 1,700 hectares lost in ten years and around twenty farms that have disappeared. The cause is the abandonment of plots of land to salt water, which penetrates deeper and deeper into the land, without new dikes being built.
Around 50 tractors made up the convoy, coming from all over the department.
Romuald Augé
Concrete blocks
Like in the Brouage marsh, where an immense lake of salt water formed this winter, soaking farmers' land. The Papi (Flood Action and Prevention Program) which covers the sector aims to secure property and people but not agricultural plots. And it’s this kind of choice that pisses off farmers. “We don’t hear this speech,” explains Kévin Dumont, president of the department’s JA. Today, we have the case of a young person who has to abandon 150 hectares of land. »
How Charente-Maritime is preparing for rising water levels
Nearly thirteen years have passed since the devastating passage of storm Xynthia in February 2010 on a heavily urbanized Atlantic coast during the second half of the 20th century. If an ambitious program to restore tens of kilometers of dikes which were no longer maintained has been launched, the question of letting the sea penetrate inland again now arises on certain sites. After 1,500 years of conquests facing the sea, a major shift is taking place
“We must also listen to us when we talk about the environment”
After having parked most of the tractors on the side of the RD137, leading to a total and then partial closure of traffic in the direction La Rochelle – Rochefort between Châtelaillon and Fouras at the end of the morning, the farmers took the path to the small house managed by the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) near the Yves marsh. They walled it up with concrete blocks, for symbolism. “The environment is not just the LPO,” pushes Kévin Dumont. We must also listen to us when we talk about the environment. »
Listen, the president of the Departmental Council Sylvie Marcilly and the prefect Brice Blondel, present in the morning, did it. Discussions with the prefect had even taken place beforehand to be sure that the action, closely supervised by the gendarmerie whose helicopter circled several times above the RD137, took place smoothly.
Romuald Augé
The farmers had brought everything they needed to wall up the openings of an LPO building, in the Yves marsh nature reserve.
Romuald Augé / SO
Sylvie Marcilly and Brice Blondel spoke at length with the hundred or so farmers present.
Garbage Heap
“When we see in the polls that 82% of people support our movement, the goal is above all not to impact traffic and alienate citizens,” assures Cédric Tranquard. It was rather successful until 4 p.m., when the dual carriageway was again completely closed in the La Rochelle – Rochefort direction from the Châtelaillon exit, at the time of the convoy's departure. Behind him, he left piles of tires and waste everywhere, particularly on the road, and kilometers and hours of traffic jams at the end of the day on the RD 137, between La Rochelle and Châtelaillon.
Environmentalists react
As of Tuesday, December 3, local members of the Ecologist party reacted to the action of the FDSEA and the JA. In a press release, they believe that she “has the wrong target. These repeated acts aim to intimidate and muzzle the voices that defend sustainable agriculture, respectful of the environment, the climate and biodiversity. » At the same time, the Environmentalists encourage the State “to take firm measures to protect environmental activists, elected officials who are regularly the targets of these protest movements, environmental associations and committed farmers in the agroecological transition of our department”.
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