The Rural Coordination (CR) is calling for demonstrations starting this Sunday, January 5. Dozens of tractors should head towards Paris in the afternoon. What device? What objectives? Amélie Rebière, national vice-president of the union and breeder in Corrèze, answers us.
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Amélie Rebière, president of the Rural Coordination (CR) in Corrèze and national vice-president of the union, was received on the set of ICI 19/20 Limousin, this Saturday January 4.
No mobilization will take place in the region, confirms the farmer. Concerning the movement of farmers to Paris: “The tractors from Limousin will not go to Paris. We have organized ourselves so that the tractors travel as little as possible, because that represents a cost. These are mainly tractors which will come from Ile-de-France , from neighboring departments But the Limousins will come as reinforcements, by train, by bus or by car.
The CR is the only union to have launched this call for mobilization. Since the first large-scale mobilization in January 2024, Rural Coordination believes that the demands have not been heard. Now is the time for action. “It is not a question of blocking Parisians, nor Ile-de-France residents. What we want is to go to Paris to express our dismay and our anger. It's been a year that we've been fooled, it's been a year that we've been promised things that we don't see at the bottom of our farms.” explains Amélie Rebière.
After a while, we have to hold successive governments accountable. We changed Prime Ministers, but we still have the same Minister of Agriculture who is aware of agricultural problems. We want guarantees.
Amélie RebièreVice-President of Rural Coordination, President of CR19
In addition, the year 2024 was particularly harsh for the agricultural world, which suffered a series of crises, which, according to the trade unionist, only worsened the situation of farmers: “Added to this, the health crisis at the breeding level, with BCF (Bluetongue) and MHE (epizootic hemorrhagic disease), is added a poor harvest. We must not forget that breeders are in mixed crops: they grow their cereals, their corn, to feed their livestock, and there is around 30% less harvest this year. So the crisis is worsening and we still have no response from the government.”insists Amélie Rebière.
Also read: Rainy weather, waterlogged soil, low yield… farmers in difficulty for the wheat harvest
This new mobilization takes place in the context of an election in the agricultural chambers, the campaign of which begins on January 7. It could be a way of supporting the union's candidacy, even if the president prefers to qualify: “We must not exaggerate: we have been in an agricultural crisis for a while. We must believe that the other unions think that everything is going well. We see that the deepening crisis, inevitably, we are remobilizing, the trade unionist justifies herself. During the campaign, there will be a reserve at the level of the government and administrations, which means that we will not have face-to-face interlocutors throughout the campaign.”
The Chamber of Agriculture will allow us to have local power, to be able to really help farmers and to stop this sectarianism which is slowly killing us all.
Amélie Rebièrepresident of CR19
Rural Coordination is known for these actions sometimes considered “too muscular” and some fear excesses. The union notably damaged the Creuse OFB building last November. But, Amélie Rebière recalls: “The violence is on our farms, we must not forget the number of suicides per year in the agricultural world, we must not forget that there are more than 30% of agricultural operations which are in serious financial difficulty.”
Also read: “Everyone is angry”: four farmers from the Creuse Rural Coordination in police custody for the damage committed in November
The Prime Minister, François Bayrou, proposes a meeting with all agricultural unions on Monday January 13.
