Farmers blockade roads in protest

HUNDREDS of cattle farmers have blockaded roads in Normandy with their tractors to protest about falling prices and the precarity of their jobs.

About 300 livestock producers began with a go-slow protest on the A84 towards Caen on Sunday afternoon and continued their demonstration through the night, dumping farm waste outside several supermarkets.

Since early this morning, the access routes to the Caen ring road have been blocked by about 25 tractors.

The protest came after President Hollande gave a speech at the weekend saying it was up to supermarket groups to increase their prices to help producers make ends meet.

Last month the big outlets agreed at a round-table meeting organised by agriculture minister Stéphane Le Foll to bring the price of beef up by €0.05 per kilo per week for about three months to allow a return to profitability.

But farmers say the increases are not making their way to producers and that the prices paid for beef, pork and milk remain too low for them to survive.

Mr Le Foll has called another meeting in Paris for this Thursday. Farmers in Normandy have refused - insisting that the minister come to visit them.