Farmers’ Protests in France: Responding to Environmental Regulation, Foreign Competition, and CAP Reform
France, the biggest agricultural producer in the EU and responsible for more than one-fifth of the total value of output, is also home to a vociferous farming community. The nation thus finds itself in the throes of the latest round of nationwide protests, in response to a range of contentious issues. Starting in the south-western department of Tarn in November 2023, protests have since spread right across the Hexagon. From the morning of 29 January 2024, convoys of tractors and lorries, supplemented by bales of hay, crates of produce, and piles of rocks and gravel, have set up impromptu barricades to blockade France’s roads and motorways and motorway exits, and have laid siege to Paris by creating chokepoints at the eight major road entrances into the capital city, as well as encircling the orbital Peripherique ring road. These challenging manoeuvres have led Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin to warn farmers to not cross any “red lines” by blockading Rungis International Market, Europe’s largest wholesale food market, in the southern suburbs of Paris, and the city’s two major airports, Charles de Gaulle-Roussy in the north, and Orly in the south. Other manifestations of the protest include the dumping of agricultural waste, such as manure, outside government offices, upside-down town and village entrance signs, as well as criminal damage to foreign lorries and raids on supermarkets targeting imported produce
Farmers’ protests have been coordinated by FNSEA (Fédération nationale des syndicats d’exploitants agricoles), the largest farmers’ union, and Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Farmers), while right-wing parties have sought to gain political capital from the ensuing turmoil. The latest round of French protests has prompted similar actions in solidarity in the French-speaking region of Wallonia in southern Belgium, as well as in the Belgian capital of Brussels. Farmers have also been protesting in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Romania-all for roughly similar reasons.
The French farmers’ protests, in their widest sense, can be considered an attempt to protect rural France and its traditional farming practices. EU policies and directives are under attack, alongside issues more specific to France. Farmers are facing escalating costs of inputs for growing crops and feeding livestock, including synthetic fertiliser, animal feed, diesel fuel, and energy prices, which are not matched by corresponding wholesale prices for agricultural products. Unfortunately, negotiations between suppliers and retailers to adjust food prices are limited to a three-month time window between 1 December and 1 March, which does not give enough leeway to correct for rising input costs. Most French farms are small-scale operations, reliant on intermediary food companies to negotiate prices with supermarkets. According to European Commission figures, there are about 456 000 farms in France, of an average size of 69 hectares. At the same time, 75 big food companies handle 80 per cent of France’s food.
Adding to farmers’ pain are perceptions of unfair foreign competition, related to cheaper food imports from Eastern Europe, especially after the EU waived quotas and tariffs on Ukrainian imports in response to the outbreak of the conflict with Russia. There are also potential threats from Latin American producers from plans for a free-trade deal between the EU and the South American Mercosur trading bloc.
Recent EU directives on environmental protection have not been welcomed by France’s farmers. Cuts in subsidies for diesel for tractors and other farm vehicles, as part of the EU’s net zero energy transition, have accordingly been halted by Gabriel Attal, newly appointed Prime Minister, on 26 January. Furthermore, red tape is delaying payment of subsidies under EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Conditions to receive these subsidies include an incoming but unpopular requirement to devote 4 per cent of farmland to “non-productive” use, allowing land to lie fallow and thereby encourage rewilding. There are also demands for immediate aid for organic farmers and winemakers.
The French farmers’ protests highlight many of the issues constraining agricultural production in Western Europe. Protectionist tendencies within France are under threat from EU diktats and from wider globalisation trends. Left to the mercy of free market forces, France’s farmers face an existential threat, from which they can only be rescued by timely government intervention. A breakdown in relations between rural farmers and Parisian political elites warrants corrective action.
Ashis Banerjee