Witness takes you this week alongside Xavier and Flora, farmers who have joined the blockades, and are awaiting action from the government.
French farmers are angry. Last November, they reversed traffic signs to claim this slogan: “We walk on our heads”. However, this has not proven to be enough, they say. Their tensions: free trade, Mercosur, the Green Deal and bureaucracy.
In the small town of Bazarnes, in Yonne, the Flora farm has 100 sheep. Like every morning, at a quarter past eight, she has to go watch and feed her sheep. “We even come to say to ourselves: tomorrow who will feed us? Because we’re not sure we’re still here,” she wonders. His job is in danger. The European Union has just signed a free trade agreement with New Zealand which allows the importation of lambs for half its value in France. “We will find it in stores all around, New Zealand lamb that will have traveled 18,000 kilometers! “ she declares.
Administrative bureaucracy and the application of the European Green Deal, a set of standards in favor of reducing pesticides, are at the heart of the anger of Xavier, a breeder and cereal grower, Flora’s neighbor. He is preparing to reach the blockages in the Paris region with his tractor. For Xavier “it’s a very heavy mental load,” he reflects as he gets closer kilometer after kilometer to his goal.
After three days of blockages, hope begins to light the way. Beyond the promised administrative simplification, the government is committed to backing down on the Green Deal, maintaining tax aid for GNR, farmers’ fuel, and affirms that it does not want the free trade treaty with Mercosur. The blockages are finally lifted.
Xavier and Flora welcome the news with optimism, although they do not give up. After the government’s promises, farmers expect action, and quickly.