“It’s going to go everywhere, there will be a lot of targets”: the president of Rural Coordination announces new blockages in France

What form will the actions of Rural Coordination take in the days to come?

We have lists of grievances for an agricultural rescue plan and we first went to the prefectures to ask for answers. Then, we plan to mobilize wherever we continue to live thanks to agriculture, even though we, on the farms, no longer live.

The banks are targeted, the industrialists, the MSA… In fact, all those who should be in the fight with us and who, ultimately, are very discreet and have not participated in providing us with solutions.

We are going to block purchasing centers, food freight, many trucks, ports in particular those of La Rochelle, Bayonne, Bordeaux. Cooperatives also who do not play the game and import products while our silos are full.

We are also blocking both sides of the Spanish border, at Boulou and Hendaye.

There will be many targets and then a big one, which I cannot yet talk about (the CR does not exclude, in particular, blocking Toulouse, Editor's note)

Will the blockage of the A9 at Boulou, which began on Tuesday, continue?

Yes, it is of indefinite duration. The trailers have been fitted out with straw, it is covered to keep warm, relays will be organized. Everything is designed to hold.

Which regions will be affected?

The actions will focus first on two regions, Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine, with other slightly more punctual operations in the Ardennes, Marne and other departments, because the harvests are not finished, elsewhere, may I think it will then go everywhere.

Starting tomorrow (this Wednesday, November 20), other departments will take action.

CThe movement will look likehe then to the one you led at the start of the year? Are you ready to block France?

How to do otherwise? At Rural Coordination, there is always a plan A and a plan B. We have imagination. We are not here to annoy the population, but this time, everyone really needs to be aware of the turning point that awaits us.

If we continue like this, in less than ten years, there will only be 150,000 farms left, that means we have lost our food autonomy, we will also outsource our jobs. There is no worse social plan in France than that experienced by agriculture. You cannot massacre a population that works 70 hours a week, that has no vacation, no retirement, that ends up broke. If we disappear, it's jobs, it's lives, it's lots of things. Mercosur would sign the death warrant for French agriculture.

Consumers may well decide to join us, as we could see it during the winter, all those who stopped on the side of the roads to give us support. This movement is call from the bottom of my heart. It's a cry of distress.

Don't you fear excesses? The FNSEA does not want any blockages, what does its positioning inspire you?

Whatever the Rural Coordination does, the FNSEA criticizes it. I will not criticize their actions.

They do what they want. I am here to defend farmers. When they can exceed certain limits, it takes a little understanding. QWhat do we prefer? Have two suicides per day because the situation is no longer bearable? At some point, if a person is overflowing, it’s because they are exhausted. And there are many of them in this case.

The Ministry of Agriculture said at the start of the year: there are 40% of farms in financial distress. Since then, we have experienced the worst harvests this summer. Each time we get up, but we get up in fewer numbers.

Have you set yourself any red lines that should not be crossed, in terms of violence and modes of action?

The instructions are clear: no damage to property, no damage to people. When it comes to something getting dirty, it gets cleaned up.

But we hope to win our case very quickly to avoid any overflow, because the longer it lasts, the more risky it will become.

In the background of the movement, there are also the elections looming in the chambers of agriculture, this is also an issue for the unions…

It will be a referendum. This is where we will see if farmers have understood that change is needed. In any case, we hope a lot from these elections, they will be decisive in knowing the willingness of farmers to get out of this situation on their own or not.