French farmers must accept competition and climate concerns

To understand farmer privilege in France, you only have to note how agricultural workers who covered trespassers in liquid manure were treated over the summer. 

The use of tractors and crop sprayers to attack squatters is illegal and, of course, extremely dangerous. 

Yet farmers around Strasbourg thought nothing of deploying it against communities of Roma caravaners. 

Rather than getting help and compensation, the travellers soon received court orders instructing them to move on, and to pay for any damage caused. 

The farmers who sprayed them were, in contrast, largely treated as heroes, in line with the sanctity of La France Profonde – ‘The Deep France’ of Gallic agricultural romanticism.

Millions across the country can trace their roots to a small patch of arable land, and there is a widespread feeling that anyone who earns a living from the soil should be protected at all costs. 

As with the seasons, change comes quickly, however, and the French government is certainly in the process of making rural life harder. 

Falling incomes, mounting debts and increased bureaucratic burdens from Brussels are all contributing to a crisis within the EU’s largest agricultural producer.

That is why so many of the country’s 700,000-odd farmers are involved in near-constant action against President Emmanuel Macron’s administration.

The biggest agricultural unions have planned mass protests throughout the autumn, not least to express opposition to trade deals with foreign countries. 

This includes major protests on Friday, September 26.

They are particularly angry about the one between the EU and so-called Mercosur nations, which include Brazil and Uruguay. 

The aim is to create a mammoth free trade area, covering more than 700 million consumers, while eliminating more than 90% of customs duties between Europe and South America. 

With President Donald Trump’s America pushing up tariffs everywhere, it appears to make sense, except that French farmers fear overseas produce is less safe, and of far lower quality than their own. 

Meanwhile, a determinedly environmental agenda in the West, as exemplified by the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, is also angering farmers.

The scale and fury of farming demonstrations against such thinking became only too apparent last year when tractor drivers threatened to block Rungis, Paris’ principal wholesale food market. 

“Let’s Starve Paris” became a particularly frightening rallying cry, pointing to growing extremism within an industry in which some 10,000 farms a year are being forced to close down.

Meanwhile, anti-globalist sentiment is being exploited by populist politicians who – against all the evidence – believe France can remain aloof from competition.

The far-right Rassemblement National (RN), in particular, believes in economic patriotism in every single field, including agriculture.

In the words of Jordan Bardella, the RN leader: “Our farmers must be competitive,” but not when “put in competition with products or sectors that do not respect any of our standards”.

More controversially still, Mr Bardella took advantage of the 2024 farmers’ protests to launch an offensive against “punitive ecology”. 

He blasted “the restrictive standards adopted in France and Europe to restore biodiversity and reduce CO² emissions”.

Such backward, highly irresponsible thinking might have been acceptable in a gentler world, when France was divided into millions of smallholdings, while drawing much of its cultural identity from jolly farmers in dark blue berets leading herds of happy cows. 

Such caricatures are in grave danger today, however, because lofty myths can no longer sustain an industry that urgently needs to adapt to the modern world. 

What are your thoughts on farmers' industrial action in France? Let us know at letters@connexionfrance.com