DIRECT. Anger of farmers: demonstration underway in Toulouse in front of the Administrative City, Inrae targeted in Paris

“For sale, no longer useful – Lease to be transferred – Savings: EUR 1.1 billion”

Access to the front door of Inrae was not completely blocked this Thursday morning, 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 EUR”.

No tractors, no machines: 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.

“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 union. Young Farmers (JA). “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 the auxiliary fauna, with productivity losses that can go up to up to 50% per year,” he added.