In Daméraucourt, in the Oise, Romain Crignon grows cereals and raises sheep. He who had participated in the blockages at the start of the year took note of the 14 new announcements made on Saturday April 27 by the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, and the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau.
Among these “additional measures” are the date of the new Ecophyto plan, presented in May, new cash flow aid for farms, and an aid plan for departments affected by weather disasters.
Romain Crignon recognizes “that we have still had progress”, but not really a revolution. “We treated the symptoms more than the causes”laments the farmer. “The problems we had with free trade agreements, we still have them, and we are still re-signing agreements and we are still bringing in ‘substandard’ food. We can always find new counter- measures to counterbalance bad agreements, but the problem is that we treat the consequences and not the cause.”
Romain is a member of the FNSEA, a union which believes that a “new phase” now opens. He prefers to remain cautious. “I understand the idea that we are entering a new phase, because these are phases of negotiations. It’s good, it’s work that is being done, but there is the political dimension, and there is the administration needs to change… and it’s more complicated”he nuances.
He takes a personal example, from a check he had in the spring of the body which takes care of CAP payments. “I have control over my sheep, it’s normal, it’s traceability, it’s normal to know that my animals leave with a circulation document, that everything is properly sealed, recognizes Romain. But this year, we have a new version where we also check on invoice, that is to say we add another layer to the check.”
The Oise farmer deplores an overload of work for him, and for the controller “who is just as sorry as we are”, and denounces “somewhat Kafkaesque situations: we control the control. The controller is surely controlled himself.” And as if to prove that the anger is not completely appeased, the entrance and exit signs to the town of Daméraucourt are still upside down.
