Banners on roundabouts, entrance to Rives et Eaux condemned, covered radars: Rural Coordination goes on the offensive in Tarbes

Roundabouts adorned with demands where even a reel sits, radars rendered ineffective by tarpaulins in the colors of the CR, the entrance to the headquarters of the water management organization Rives et Eaux du Sud-Ouest blocked by slurry and promotional posters. Last night was particularly agitated and revealed the unease still brewing in the fields. After the JA made their demands on the roundabouts already this fall, this time it was the farmers of the Hautes-Pyrénées Rural Coordination who carried out several actions. ” After months of inaction from our government, the agricultural crisis is only getting worse. All sectors are affected and farmers no longer know what to do to survive,” alarms François Nogues, president of CR65.

Among the first demands, the question of water and irrigation which gave rise to a decoration in the theme on the Bordères roundabout, but also in front of the old CACG. The demonstrators particularly want reserves to be created. ” L“politicians are sailing while farmers are drifting”, they support, opposing to connected meters “which are not necessary in the Adour valley. Water is used to feed you.” A resource that has a cost, with several fees paid by irrigators, depending on their location. “We denounce the excessive pricing for the management of lakes whose water is used for low water and public health, practiced by Rives et Eaux du Sud-Ouest.” And the union demands a single fee of 50 €/ha maximum to all irrigating farmers in France.

Another roundabout, that of Ibos, another breeding ground for demands around livestock breeding, which “suffers successive crises leaving the entire sector in disarray”. A sector where the various support and compensation plans following the FCO and the MHE which “leave more farmers by the wayside than beneficiary breeders”. And point: “LThe ministry announces free vaccines even though stocks are empty. There is an urgent need to review the livestock issue.”

In addition to predation and the fate of the Bagnères slaughterhouse (“a sheep slaughter line must be maintained in our department”), the question of plant cover also germinates in the debate, for which the union contacted the prefect. “The rainy summer associated with a lack of heat and light, delayed all crops. Thus, the majority of farmers will harvest very late, calling into question the establishment of plant covers and their agronomic interest for the valorization of soils, while the latter have a significant implementation cost Already in 2023, we have spent for nothing…”.

Numerous grievances which will not fail to fuel the anger of farmers, which has never really subsided for a year, as well as the campaign for the elections to the Chamber of Agriculture at the start of next year.