French farmers call for major protest day: key details and impact

The number of major strike actions in France is rising, with the country’s main farmers’ unions announcing a ‘major day of action’ next week.

Nationwide protests on Friday, September 26 have been called by France’s leading farmer’s union the FNSEA, and will be supported by the Young Farmers (Jeunes Agriculteurs) union.

An original announcement cited September 25 as the target date but this was later rectified. 

Widespread protests and demonstrations are expected, but union members say roadblocks - typically a key tactic where farmers block roads with tractors - will not play a central role in the movement.

Farmers are protesting over a number of issues, said FNSEA president Arnaud Rousseau.

These include “Mercosur [a trade agreement between the EU and South American countries], the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump and the flood of international imports that do not comply with our standards,” he said in an interview with French media Le Journal du Dimanche. 

Unions want French products to be prioritised in the supply chain rather than outcompeted by international imports.

The strikes are also intended to “put pressure on the new government [and] reaffirm the importance of farmers in the country,” said general secretary of the FNSEA Hervé Lapie to FranceInfo.

The union is seeking a meeting with new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to discuss their demands.

The action will come a little over a week after France’s eight major unions plan to take to the streets on September 18, which is expected to cause severe disruption across the country. 

Many farmers expected to join… but few road blocks

Currently it is not clear how disruptive the September 26 protests will be, although many farmers are set to take part.

“The actions are at the discretion of departmental federations,” an FNSEA spokesperson told news agency AFP. 

In short, this means each department is likely to organise its own protests at a more local level, and decide how to mobilise. 

As of September 16, no national demonstration - such as a march on Paris or a mass gathering of farmers at a key location - has been announced.

The union has said that road blocks will not play a key role in the protests, and that the mobilisation will instead focus on protests and demonstrations outside of certain buildings. 

The action will consist of “mobilisations in all departments, whether in front of home catering [for elderly people], in front of supermarkets [large and medium-sized stores], in front of prefectures and government agencies, so that they go and inspect home catering,” said Mr Lapie. 

Attack on imports

Despite MPs passing the Loi Duplomb – a pro-farmer bill that reduces sector regulations in several areas – before summer, international imports remain a key sticking point. 

“Take Ukrainian eggs, for example: these products enter our country, and we do not want them on our plates because they pose risks to our health and the environment,” said Mr Rousseau.

Farmers want an end to "the governmental instability where the agricultural profession is having a very hard time getting answers," said Mr Lapie. 

"We are losing our food sovereignty to imports that do not respect our health, environmental, and social standards,” he added.

“French consumers' plates today can be filled with food that we don't have the right to produce. It's time to react, and the foundations of a country must be built around its food sovereignty and its agriculture.” 

One example highlighted by the union is honey. Under the impending Mercosur agreement, up to 45,000 tonnes of honey is set to be imported from South America despite a lack of regulations in its production compared to the EU.

In December 2024, the EU-Mercosur trade deal was agreed, but has yet to be approved by enough EU member states to come into force.

The union also highlighted the expected difficulties arising from US tariffs on the wine and spirits industry, and says the EU “let its guard down against the US,” and these tariffs will impact the sector.

One demand of the union is an end to checks on domestic farmers and a focus on food controls of imports. 

“Controls must be at the borders to control food that comes into our country, into our territories,” said Mr Lapie.

A focus on ending international imports may see farmers attempt to block border roads, notably between Spain and France, as many goods of non-EU origins are shipped to Spain and then driven across this border. 

Several major blockades of roads along the border have taken place in recent years, backed by local and national farmer groups.