“Yesterday, we managed to live, today they tax us everything and we can no longer do it”

In Villedoux, it’s hard “to get your head above water”

At nightfall, in Villedoux, north of La Rochelle, around fifteen farmers took possession of the carpooling area roundabout.

“Many were still working in the fields at the end of the day, as it will rain tomorrow,” explains Sébastien Brochet. A local figure in the agricultural world, responsible for the La Rochelle sector at the FDSEA (Departmental Federation of Farmers' Unions), he has been at the head of the family farm of Joncs, in Esnandes, since 2007 with his partner Julie. Both a farmer, with 220 hectares of cereals, and a breeder, with 60 nursing mother cows, he offers direct sales on the farm. Today, at 47, he worries about the near future.

“There is no more cash flow even though it should be at its best at this time of year, when we have to pay rent to owners. We are coming out of a complicated year due to rainfall, with some of the late sowing that we will not harvest, aid from the CAP [Politique agricole commune] hanging around… Honestly, we're having trouble getting our heads above water. »

As at the start of the year, Sébastien Brochet and his colleagues decided to take to the roads again to show their dissatisfaction. “The promises were not kept,” he gets annoyed. At the administrative level, it's getting worse and worse. And then we are not subject to the same standards as other countries, that revolts us. Twenty years ago, we were forced to put concrete on our farms; we have strict specifications. When you see the farms in Brazil, the cows on top of each other, I'm not sure it's the same thing. »

In Royan, Jean-Noël still “passionate” but “worn out”

In Royan, around fifty farmers have invested, without blocking, the entrance to Royan. Among them, Jean-Noël Gemon. A bad flu left him bedridden on February 3rd. Well this Monday, November 18, he was not going to miss the opportunity this time to park his tractor on the airfield roundabout, as a sign of protest. The cattle breeder based in Médis came as a “closest neighbor” to make up their numbers. “Nothing has changed since February, apart from progress on non-road diesel (GNR)”, namely the abandonment by the State of the increase in taxes on this fuel.

The Mercosur trade agreement, obviously, worries Jean-Noël Gemon. “When, tomorrow, we import 99,000 tonnes of meat from South America, it will obviously be to the detriment of French breeders. » The Médisais farmer would, however, almost place “administrative cumbersomeness” at the top of his reasons for anger. “In thirty-three years of union activism, I think I have always heard about it! I'm lucky that my wife takes care of all the formalities, but these tasks take up a full third of my time. »

At 61, Jean-Noël still loves his job. “I remain passionate. In any case, if you don't do this job out of passion, you don't do it. » The breeder is “not worn out by the work itself. It is these administrative constraints that wear me out. »

In Pons, for Jérôme, “the worst is yet to come”

Jérôme Merle, 30, is one of the hundred farmers who took over the land near the Leclerc roundabout, in Pons. “I have around fifty hectares of cereals and 40 hectares of vines in Sainte-Lheurine. It is the vines that give me life today. After our movement, at the start of the year, we had some good announcements. The price of non-road diesel has become more reasonable again. But on administrative simplification, things are dragging. For cereals, Europe requires us to have three different crops. This year, it was impossible with the weather. We also have phytosanitary products that disappear and are not replaced,” explains this member of the Young Farmers (JA).

This is not the topic of the day, but in the cognac region, viticulture is trembling. “The industry has been struggling for one or two years. With Chinese taxes, we shoot at the ambulance, we didn't need that. I deliver stale brandies to Rémy-Martin, I am under contract until 2029. But I no longer sell anything on the open market, it weighs on the cash flow. There are farms which are suffering a lot, and the worst is to come,” predicts the winegrower, for whom it is necessary to mobilize now. The demonstrators lit a “fire of anger” and surrounded the roundabout with a protest tarpaulin. They had to leave the premises in the middle of the night.

In Saint-Jean-d’Angély, “generally fed up”

The first tractor arrived at 6:30 p.m., followed a few minutes later by a convoy of around fifteen machines on the Lidl roundabout, in Saint-Jean-d'Angély. In a few minutes, they unloaded the wood to light the fires of their anger on the ground.

Alongside Cédric Tranquard, president of FNSEA 17 and cereal farmer in the commune of Archingeay, there is Julien, from Matha, very worried about the future of cereal agriculture: “We really need a blank year, we needs it. » Same thing for Kevin Bertin, winegrower in La Brousse: “Yesterday, we managed to live, today they tax us everything and we can no longer do it, even if we make a lot of money. The more we try to develop our operations and the more they take from us, there is a general fed up, that's why we are here. We really need to simplify our work with less paperwork on farms. Right away, this would free up our time and could bring us cash. »