More than a hundred farmers erected this Thursday, November 28, at dawn, a concrete block wall to symbolically block the entrance to Inrae in Paris (the National Institute of Research for Agriculture, the 'food and the environment), noted a journalist from theAFP. They are protesting in particular against the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur.
“Only constraints”
Access to the front door of the building is not blocked, with a gap between the concrete block wall and the entrance to the building. Tagged in orange on the wall about two meters high, we can read “INRA escrolos”, while a banner displays: “For sale, no longer useful – Lease to be transferred – Savings made: 1.1 billion €”.
Farmers, of all ages, came by car and public transport to demonstrate. Gathered very early, before 6 a.m., they were first blocked and surrounded by the police, then, calmly, laid concrete blocks in front of INRAE to erect the wall. Around 7:30 a.m., they began to disperse.
In theory, “institutes like INRAE can give us the means to fulfill our role as producers”or “this is no longer the case. For years, it is degrowth that has been organized”declared with a loudspeaker Pascal Verrièle, deputy secretary of the FDSEA Seine-et-Marne.
“We finance a national institute at a billion euros per year which only brings us constraints”added Donatien Moyson, co-president of the Young Farmers (JA) IDF Ouest, to theAFP.
Production losses denounced
“We have restrictions on the use of certain products without effective alternative solutions, which leads to production losses”testified Rémi Pierrard, a beet and cereal producer based near Provins (Seine-et-Marne), member of the JA union.
“We were banned from an insecticide which protected the beet at the beginning of its growth against an aphid. Now, we are forced to treat with a sprayer, a treatment that is much less effective and less respectful of auxiliary fauna, with productivity losses of up to 50% per year.he added.
Read also: Anger of farmers: FNSEA, JA, Confédération paysanne… Who are the agricultural unions?
On Wednesday, 28 actions took place in 24 departments, authorities recorded, involving 1,600 people and 479 agricultural machines, in actions which targeted “more public buildings”. The FNSEA-JA alliance had placed its first week of mobilization under the sign of opposition to the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay). But, for its second week of coordinated actions, it is particularly targeting what it considers to be «obstacles» to the work of farmers, such as prefectures, water agencies or offices of the French Biodiversity Office (OFB).
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