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French farmers with their tractors take part in a protest at the Place de la Nation
French farmers with their tractors take part in a protest at the Place de la Nation. Photograph: Sipa/Rex Shutterstock
French farmers with their tractors take part in a protest at the Place de la Nation. Photograph: Sipa/Rex Shutterstock

Angry French farmers hold tractor protest in Paris

This article is more than 8 years old

Struggling farmers say plunging food prices and soaring costs are destroying their livelihoods and leaving many on the brink of bankruptcy

French farmers have blocked the streets of Paris with over 1,500 tractors to protest over plunging food prices and soaring costs they say are killing their livelihoods.

From far-flung corners of the country, some spent days slowly chugging towards the capital, leaving behind barely surviving pig, cattle or beetroot farms.

The protest came after months of similar acts around the country and prompted the government to offer fresh measures to address the farmers’ concerns.

Plummeting food prices, ever-increasing taxes and social charges, and “crazy” environmental standards: the farmers in Europe’s leading agricultural power say they have had enough.

Bruno Jacquet, 50, and his two sons had left at 4:30am from the village of Artenay in central France where his family has farmed for seven generations. He hopes he will not be the last. His wheat, barley and beetroot farm has been hard hit by falling prices in the global market and China’s struggling economy.

“On top of that we have charges, taxes, environmental standards that are getting completely crazy,” he told AFP while making sandwiches on his tractor’s wheel-arch.

He said strict rules on when and how to plant, and the kind of fertiliser to use, came from “greenies who live in the city and can’t tell the difference between a rabbit and a chicken”.

Bruno’s son Yvertin, 21, would like to take over the farm, but there is not enough money for two salaries.

“I hope at least one of them can take it over one day. I hope they will be able to make a living,” Bruno said.

Polls show the protest has overwhelming support from the French public. The Jacquets’ tractor joined hundreds of others lining the arteries of the east of Paris.

“He who sows misery reaps anger,” read one banner attached to a tractor. Traffic chaos was kept to a minimum as many Parisians heeded advice to leave their cars at home and use public transport or bicycles.

The protest is the culmination of months of anger that has seen farmers block key cities, dump manure and rotting vegetables in the streets and in one case send pigs running through supermarket aisles.

A combination of factors, including changing dietary habits, slowing Chinese demand and a Russian embargo on western products in response to sanctions over the Ukraine conflict, has pushed down prices for beef, pork and milk.

The French prime minister, Manuel Valls, described the problem as a European crisis, with protests also expected in Brussels ahead of an EU meeting on the issue on Monday.

In France local supermarkets and distributors have also been blamed for keeping prices low.

In July, the government unveiled an emergency package worth €600m (£440m) in tax relief and loan guarantees. Farmers argued this was woefully inadequate.

After Thursday’s protest, Valls went further, adding €85m to the emergency package, and promising a break in the environmental norms as well as a year-long moratorium on debt repayment for struggling farmers. He also announced a reduction in social charges and promised to pour more resources into helping farmers modernise and raise investment.

“Agriculture is our heritage, the identity of our rural areas,” said Valls, speaking of the humiliation and self-sacrifice of farmers unable to make ends meet. “Desperation is suffocating families.”

He spoke of those such as cattle farmer Ribey Rotte, 49, from the Cantal region in central France, who told AFP he works 70 hours a week, never takes a holiday and draws a salary of €800 a month, well below the minimum wage.

“I am single, luckily. Someone with a family has no chance,” he said.

The agriculture minister has estimated that around 10% of farms in France – approximately 22,000 sites – are on the brink of bankruptcy with a combined debt of €1bn.

“All we want is to make a living from our job,” said Yvertin Jacquet.

Xavier Beulin, head of France’s leading farmers’ union, FNSEA, said the government had finally heard the farmers, however some at the protest booed the announcement – especially those from Brittany where pork and milk industries have been hit hard.

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