Eight months after the revolt, anger still simmers in the peasant world

Smaller harvests, a resurgence of viruses, fallow agricultural orientation law, continued Mercosur negotiations, plethora of environmental and administrative standards… So many reasons that exacerbate the farmers’ anger. Eight months after the peasant revolt, which saw numerous tractor blockades set up on the country’s roads, their nerves are still on edge even if, for the moment, the actions have not yet materialized. « The situation is extremely tense and risks exploding again once the work in the fields is completed. », warns Arnaud Rousseau, head of the FNSEA. The farm workers are busy harvesting grapes, picking sugar beets or harvesting rice, while waiting for corn silage and wheat sowing in the fall.

While the government is not responsible for the excessively wet weather conditions, it is responsible for the broken promises made during the conflict earlier this year. « The feeling of frustration among farmers is such that if the new Prime Minister does not act urgently, the mobilisation could start again. »warns Arnaud Rousseau. « The question is when… », adds Céline Imart, a farmer in Tarn, elected MEP (LR) in June. She is at the origin, with the FNSEA and the JA of her department, of this movement of signs at the entrances of towns overturned, visible everywhere in France in recent months. An action « to express that we are walking on our heads in agriculture », she recalls, emphasizing that ” In many municipalities, they have not been put back in place ».

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Seven files on top of the stack

So this file should be at the top of the pile of Michel Barnier and his (or her) future Minister of Agriculture if they want to calm tempers. In addition to the initial structural demands, there have been short-term recriminations. They can be grouped into 7 areas.

There is the question of cash flow, first of all. We need soft loans to get through the poor summer wheat harvests and the upcoming beet harvests. Not to mention the harvest, down 18% on average »underlines the head of the FNSEA. Just for soft wheat, the most produced cereal in France, the bill is heavy. « With an average yield of 6 tonnes per hectare and a stable sales price around 200 euros per tonne of wheat, cereal producers are losing 50 this year euros per tonne soldfigure Arthur Portier, consultant at Argus Media. In total, for a farm of 150 hectares, the shortfall is 45,000 euros, which corresponds on average to a year’s income. » In addition, cereal growers will not be able to make up for it with sugar beets, planted in addition to wheat. The same causes produce the same effects, the rainy weather has led to a drop in yields.

Lack of vaccines

On the sheep and cattle farming side, the number one of the FNSEA is waiting for the government to make more vaccines available to farmers. « We urgently need it to deal with the various health crises, including the bluetongue and epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) », he insists.

The government took a long time to position itself with vaccine producers, other European producers came first

Céline Imart, farmer and MEP

Sheep farmers, meeting at a congress this weekend in Troyes, regret that the public authorities did not become aware earlier of the scale of the epizootic which is affecting the whole of France. « Vaccine orders for serotypes 8 and 3 were underestimated. It is very difficult to get them, regrets Frédéric Gontard, breeder and president of the National Sheep Federation in Drôme. You have to wait 41 days of incubation after the first injection for the animal to be immune, it’s a bit late for this season. »

As for wolf predation, although it has been pushed into the background, it remains a source of great concern for breeders. For MHE, only 2 million doses are available in France, whereas 30 million are needed. « The government took a long time to position itself with vaccine producers, other European producers came first »deplores Céline Imart.

Water management

Another area of ​​contention: water management and the absence of concrete measures promised to simplify the creation of hill reservoirs or substitute reserves. The resigning Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, had instructed the prefects to identify 1,000 priority projects. For the moment, none have been built. It must be said that environmental associations are doing everything they can to delay the creation of these lakes or ponds. When these sites already exist, they file appeals to limit their use. In their eyes, it is a privatization of rainwater. For farmers, it is a question of watering the plants that will be used to feed the French.

This week alone, the General Association of Corn Producers (AGPM) had to defend itself twice before the administrative court: Monday in Pau and Wednesday in Poitiers. The NGOs asked the State to revise downwards the maximum capacities that it had authorized farmers to irrigate their crops. Enough to seriously annoy the farmers concerned. « We are fed up with all these rules and standards which are becoming more and more restrictive here, while this is not the case with our competitors, plague Franck Laborde, president of the AGPM. There is a high risk that tractors will leave the farms to demonstrate on the roads. »

No molecule ban without a solution

As regards the use of plant protection products, the government had promised that « the banning of certain molecules should no longer be done without a solution ». A commitment by the resigning Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, in one of his 67 proposals last January. Here again, concrete measures are awaited. Some sectors, such as endive, are waiting for a technical solution to replace Bonalan, a herbicide banned from next year.

We have a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads every harvest now, depending on the insect pressure during the season.

Franck Sander, President of the General Confederation of Beet Growers

Sugar beet growers have still not found the ideal molecule to replace NNI (neonicotinoids), an insecticide that kills aphids, a spray formula of which is still authorized in Europe but not in France. « The over-transposition of European regulations, particularly in terms of the use of pesticides by the French authorities, penalises us, regrets Franck Sander, president of the General Confederation of Beet Growers. We have a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads every harvest now, depending on the insect pressure during the season. »

In rice growing, the 170 producers of Camargue escaped the worst. Last May, environmental associations asked the courts to ban the temporary use, granted by the Ministry of Agriculture, of Avanza, a treatment against weeds. The farmers finally won their case in a complicated context. « French rice producers have only 8 left authorized molecules, while the Italians and the Spanish have between 18 and 21gets angry Marc Bermond, treasurer of the French Rice Center, a farmer in Gard. In Asian countries, they have at least 34, including highly carcinogenic molecules banned in Europe for fifteen years, he denounces. It is found in particular in commercial basmati rice, and no one says anything. »

Checks still too numerous

In terms of administrative and environmental controls, there is once again great frustration. Patrick Lévêque, president of the Bouches-du-Rhône Chamber of Agriculture, points the finger at the French zeal. « During the agricultural crisis last January, the government announced that it wanted to limit checks, with only one or two per farm per year.he recalls. In reality, this is impossible, given the regulations imposed by the legislature and the number of state structures that supervise their implementation.. We need to do some in-depth work to reduce them and be on a par with other European countries. »

In neighbouring Gard, a department where there was violent action last winter, the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) seems to have heard the national instructions for calm. « At one time, we would see OFB guards arriving, weapons on their belts, in a somewhat cowboy position, explains Marc Bermond. Since the agricultural crisis, we have had a department-by-department approach. In the Gard, it is better, there is much more education upstream. »

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Mercosur back in the spotlight

At the European level, the issue of free trade agreements between South American countries and the European Union, which was put on the back burner during the MEP elections, is back in the spotlight. It is also stirring up concerns among farmers. « Mercosur countries are already the European Union’s leading suppliers of beef and chicken meat. Adding additional quotas of animals, fed on deforestation-causing soy and treated with growth-promoting antibiotics, banned in the EU, would only make the situation worse. »write three sector presidents jointly to Michel Barnier. They are Jean-François Guihard for the Interprofessional Association for Livestock and Meat (Interbev), Jean-Michel Schaeffer for Broiler Poultry (Anvol) and Alain Carré, president of Abis (sugar beets). As for sugar, the new concessions envisaged at zero customs duties would represent the production of 7 European sweets. »

The agricultural orientation law must be voted on

Finally, the agricultural orientation law, which had raised many hopes in the profession, is at a standstill. « The dissolution of the National Assembly last June stopped its examination. Within the Young Farmers, they were counting on it to improve the daily lives of farmers, assures Rémi Dumas, president of JA of Hérault, winegrower in Saint-Geniès-des-Mourgues. Parliamentary discussions must be resumed. Agriculture should be considered as being of major general interest, as is the environment. This will limit the recourse of NGOs to our structuring projects. It is also necessary to facilitate the transfer of farms and the installation of young people. »

Suffice to say that, to move all these issues forward, the farming world is eagerly awaiting the new government. Perhaps they will have the beginnings of an answer to their demands at the International Livestock Show, Space, in Rennes next week, with the possible arrival of the new Minister of Agriculture…