The battle has been brewing for months, but it is now official: the campaign for the elections to the chambers of agriculture, which will shape the new balance of power between agricultural unions, began Tuesday in France.
The main issue of this election will be to see if the hegemony of the FNSEA-Young Farmers alliance is shaken and to what extent, in particular by the Rural Coordination (CR), the second agricultural union.
Since last winter's crisis, unions have continued to survey the territory to demand a more dignified income, an end to unfair competition from low-cost imported foods, less “red tape” or “identical standards”. ” for all European producers.
If the FNSEA and the CR agree to demand access to pesticides currently banned in France, but authorized by the EU, defending “means of production”, the Confédération paysanne, the third union, pleads for a ” fair income” through increased state support for the agro-ecological transition.
On the ground, the FNSEA demonstrated its striking force this fall, with simultaneous actions claimed in more than 80 departments, while its best enemy the CR favored brilliant coups, against mass distribution and French Biodiversity Office, or directly targeting Arnaud Rousseau, the boss of the FNSEA, a union deemed “responsible for 40 years of catastrophic co-management” with the State.
If they did not manage to carry out a large-scale action on Monday in Paris as they wanted, the “yellow caps” of the CR have gained visibility in recent months and hope to steal around fifteen rooms from the FNSEA-alliance. JA.
– Results on February 8 “at the latest” –
For the first official day of the campaign, their president Véronique Le Floc'h chose to participate in a “campaign aperitif” in Dordogne, one of the departments which could switch from the FNSEA to the CR – with Gers, Haute-Garonne , Corrèze or Aube, according to Rural Coordination.
It is also in this department, where he launched the campaign in December during a JA meeting, that Arnaud Rousseau will return on Thursday, for a meeting with farmers from the local chamber of agriculture.
The spokesperson for the Peasant Confederation, Laurence Marandola, will visit a farm near Arras, in Gavelle, accompanied by candidates from her organization in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
The chambers of agriculture, public establishments, have the role of “improving the economic, social and environmental performance” of farms, according to the Rural Code. They advise and offer services to operators. The FNSEA-JA Alliance currently chairs 97, compared to three for the CR (Lot-et-Garonne, Vienne and Haute-Vienne) and one (Mayotte) for the Confédération paysanne.
While in 2019, less than one in two farmers took part in the vote, the unions hope to mobilize more this year where, after a catastrophic summer, no sector is spared by the crisis, from cereals to vines including breeding.
With the exception of Mayotte, where the vote was postponed after the devastating passage of Cyclone Chido, the campaign is open throughout the territory until January 29 at midnight.
Farmers are called to elect their representatives from January 15 to 31, either by correspondence or electronically. The electoral operations are organized by the prefectures and the results of the vote announced no later than the 8th day following the closing date of the poll, i.e. no later than February 8, the Ministry of Agriculture said.
Renewed every six years, the chambers are made up of 33 elected members, including 18 farm managers. There is now added a seat automatically allocated to a representative of the regional or departmental council. Another new feature: in the event of a tie between two lists, the one with the lowest average age wins.
No change, however, to the voting method, which favors the list that came first, and therefore, currently, the FNSEA. The stakes of this election are also financial: 75% of the 14 million euros of the fund allocated to financing the unions are distributed according to the number of votes and 25% according to the number of seats.
