EU-Mercosur agreement: has globalization gone too far?

“For thirty years, we have been the currency of globalization”says an indignant farmer, who came to join the protest against the agreement with Mercosur. Agriculture, an adjustment variable for free trade agreements? Agriculture murdered by globalization? Myth or reality? In France, public opinion and political leaders are quick to embrace the farmers’ cause. It’s above all sentimental. France has long been a peasant land, with its traditions, its values, its aesthetics. The painters Courbet, Millet, Pissarro, Monet, Van Gogh and many others were inspired by it. Like the writers Balzac, Sand, Zola… Nostalgia sequence. But it is also political.

Lovers of freedom, after having suffered for centuries under the yoke of the powerful, organized, farmers have transformed themselves into an effective, even violent, lobby, and on numerous occasions they have succeeded in forcing those in power to bend. Faced with their anger, Emmanuel Macron embraced their fight and opposed the signing of the agreement with Latin American countries, which will certainly benefit European industry above all, but which, in truth, will only affect ‘at the margin French agricultural production.

However, the figures are there, which fuel the anxiety. For thirty years, with the acceleration of globalization, agriculture has continued to decline. France, less competitive, went from 2^e au 5^e rank of exporters of agricultural products. According to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture, in three decades, the net income of the agricultural sector has fallen by 40%.

Nearly 63 billion euros of food are imported, or 2.2 times more than in 2000. Most sectors are affected. One in two chickens consumed in France comes from elsewhere, like 56% of sheep meat, 28% of vegetables and 71% of fruits.

Certainly, at the same time, productivity gains and the reduction in the number of farms have allowed an increase in the income of a majority of farmers. And not all sectors are affected, some even benefit greatly from globalization. French agriculture also remains in surplus. But the profession is worried. How far will this inexorable erosion go?

In reality, if the protests from the agricultural world have such an echo, it is because they reflect an existential anxiety: has not globalization gone too far? Hasn’t it become harmful? The signals are there. Container ships that pollute the oceans, plastic packaging that invades the planet, factories that close, fast fashion, junk food, fake honey, veal with hormones, battery chickens, the shortage of medicines, tax havens, financial crises… It’s emotional. Not rational.

Because who complains about the progress made in many areas thanks to global emulation, the low price of T-shirts and household appliances made in China, the rise in the standard of living of millions of inhabitants? It’s all about trust. Not only must countries regulate, but they must also control. But both prove to be very difficult. An audit carried out by the European Union shows that Brazil is not able to guarantee that its meat exports do not contain hormone-treated beef! It raises questions.