why protests should resume this winter

On his tractor, Stéphane Lorget plants winter wheat. Or replant it, rather. Like any cereal farmer, he had already sown some at the beginning of October. But this year, the weather made him review his plans: a few days after his sowing, storm Kirk hit his farm in Latilly, in Aisne. The Wadon, one of the department’s many swollen rivers, floods its fields. Beets, rapeseed, wheat, sunflower… everything is bathed in water. “The episode only lasted twenty-four hours, but I found myself with a loss of 100,000 euros,” he describes. Stéphane is not an isolated case. With the rains that have been falling in the country for months, cereal production is expected to fall by 20% this year.

“It’s the worst agricultural year in forty years,” says Paul Mougenot, farmer and departmental advisor in Aisne. An atmosphere of cataclysm to which is added the political vacuum left by the dissolution of the National Assembly this summer and the abandonment of measures supposed to simplify the lives of farmers. For a year, the standards considered overwhelming and the untimely controls have remained, and few decrees have appeared. The return of discussions on Mercosur, the trade agreement between the European Union and certain South American countries, rejected by all the unions, is the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Exasperated, the FNSEA and the Young Farmers (JA), the two leading organizations in France, launched a call for mobilization starting November 15.

The upcoming protest movement is seen as a continuation of the riots that ignited France at the start of 2024. A series of demonstrations and road blockages had brought France to a standstill, leading the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, to travel in person. “We obtained measures on the price of non-road diesel as well as support to stem MHE (epizootic hemorrhagic disease),” recalls Jérôme Bayle, farmer in Haute-Garonne and emblematic figure of the movement.

Projects stopped dead in their tracks

Insufficient, given the protests that have already erupted in the country for some time. In Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne), 70 farmers carried out a symbolic action in front of the prefecture by placing 250 entrance signs for municipalities in the department. In Auch (Gers), sheep wool and bales of hay were dropped in front of several state buildings. In Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), Julien Bourrounet, cereal grower and deputy secretary of JA in Occitanie, is preparing to move forward with abandoned projects.

One, in particular, is causing frustration: the postponement to 2025 of the agricultural orientation and future law, originally planned for this summer. “This major project aimed to better establish young farmers in France,” explains Julien. It was essential for the renewal of generations in agriculture. We had worked on significant simplification measures and everything came to a complete halt. » The government, feeling the fire starting again, hastened to react. “The review will begin in December, as soon as the Senate has given me a slot,” said Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard.

A call from the unions

No matter, the unions announce that they will maintain their slogans. The moment, which is not insignificant, also corresponds to the launch of the campaign for the elections to the chambers of agriculture, which will be held on January 31, 2025. This election, which takes place every six years, designates both the union majority and the one who will direct the chambers, the true armed arm of agricultural policy in France. “The call for mobilization is not the same as in January. The first started from the field, that one from the unions,” recalls agroeconomist Jean-Marie Séronie.

Because if the FNSEA, historically the preferred interlocutor of governments, was until now in the majority, it finds itself increasingly in competition with the Rural Coordination, a union considered close to the National Rally and renowned for its punchy actions. “The agricultural world resembles France, divided into three blocks,” sighs Laurence Marandola, of the Confédération paysanne, classified on the left.

The stakes are high: if the elections to the chambers of agriculture make it possible to measure the representativeness of the unions, they also unlock sources of financing, according to the agricultural model defended by the movement that came first in the department. In the last elections, the FNSEA-JA list collected 55% of the votes out of 46% participation. And obtained management of 97 rooms out of the 102 in France. From November 15, each union intends to show its base, as well as the many abstaining farmers, that it knows how to win its case.