Around a hundred farmers met at the entrance to the A9 motorway, at the Béziers-Ouest tollbooth, to head towards Spain and block the border. They want to make a living from their profession and will close, for as long as it takes, access to heavy goods vehicles returning to France.
“I'm not here to beg, I'm not a beggarexplains Thomas, a wine grower in western Biterrois, who is preparing to leave for the Spanish border to demonstrate. I don't care about Mercosur and all these agreements. I want to make a living from my work. I want us all to be on equal footing. Once we have this specific point, I will manage to be competitive.”
No trucks will cross the border
This Tuesday, November 19, at 5:30 a.m., in front of the A9 toll booth in Béziers Ouest, the atmosphere is good-natured. The good humor is there, but it is not necessary to be very clear to understand that the farmers present have much better things to do on their farm than to go and demonstrate in the name of Rural Coordination 34. Everyone discusses what They will do this once they arrive at Boulou where they intend to block all the trucks that will try to return to France. “We will not sort, assure Sylvain. We don't have time and there will be too many trucks. We will simply block access. We will go back in procession, taking our Aude and Catalan colleagues along the way. It is imperative that at the highest levels, everyone is aware of our exasperation and our growing difficulties even though we were promised that everything would get better. Retailleau can speak, threaten, we will do what we plan to do.”
“The agricultural world is caught by the throat”
To support the members of the Rural Coordination, some members of the FNSEA: “We are united. Yesterday, we were in Montpellier to express our concerns, today it is hard-pressed friends who are mobilizing. The agricultural world is being held by the throat. This must stop.” LThe mayor of Béziers and his wife are present. “We don't have to look at who demonstrates if the cause is just, explains Robert Ménard. Yesterday we were in Montpellier and today here. The wine world is going badly while simple measures could help. Here, in Béziers, an agreement was signed with a major brand so that winegrowers can have visibility over a few years. It's not a panacea, but it is concrete. Then in Béziers, the City signed an agreement with cafe owners and restaurateurs. If they sell local wine, the taxes on their terraces go down. It’s a win-win.”
“Even if I sold my farm, I would not pay off my debts”
Arnaud Poitrine, the leader of Rural Coordination in Biterrois, is worried about the future of viticulture and agriculture in general. “I haven't been paid for months and I'm still being asked to lower my prices. For large retailers, we are the adjustment barrier. It's simply scandalous. We produce at a loss so that others can eat us with the wool on our backs Everyone must hear it, three quarters of our farms are in great difficulty. We are at such a point that I do not want my children to have the idea of taking over my farm. . No, it is unthinkable. To be concrete, even if I sold everything, even my farm, I would not be able to pay off my debts and my credits. It is shameful to be at this point because of climatic hazards, paperwork and taxes. absurd. We were promised to eliminate the unbuilt property tax, to give us a little breathing room. This is still not done. We are bound by the marketers. We're not happy, we just have to look elsewhere… Some people, caught by the throat, sell their stock, at any price. They need cash too much.”
Shortly after 7 a.m., this Tuesday morning, the convoy of tractors and cars, escorted by the police, set off on the A9 towards Spain. They stopped at Narbonne where some wine growers were waiting. Half an hour later, they were heading towards Boulou to reach their objective. Some of them had decided to stay there for several days to expand the movement.
