“Do you have any glue left?”. Thursday evening, around 10 p.m., a small group of about ten farmers is busy in the parking lot of the Leclerc supermarket in Tourlaville. On the facade, just next to the name of the sign, one of the breeders writes with a spray paint “I’am a thief”. “We put the pressure on nicely. But we don’t intend to let go until the end of February”, summarizes Jean-Michel Hamel, the president of the FDSEA in the Channel. A few hundred professionals responded to the call of their union and Young Farmers through three actions in the department: Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Agneaux and Avranches.
In the crosshairs of farmers: trade negotiations to determine the selling prices of agricultural products, and the explosion of charges. “Food, fuel… Everything increases, it’s unlivable”, explains Adeline, breeder of about sixty dairy cows in Quettetot, near Bricquebec. The young woman just manages to earn a salary. “The minimum, no employee and then that’s it”. Among our colleagues at franceinfo, the president of the FNSEA Christiane Lambert confided that “the cost of feeding our animals has increased by 13% on average. energy has increased by 39%, fertilizers by 79%”. And the purchase price of products is stagnating. For milk, “It’s been the same price for 25 years. No company could last that long without a raise. If nothing is done, there will be many bankruptcies in the coming months”comments a breeder who wishes to remain anonymous.
“The noose is tightening”
“Pork at two euros a kilo, organic milk sold cheaper than conventional milk… that’s not how they’re going to save the sectors. If we want to keep French agriculture, we have to change things”, laments Frédéric Revel, dairy farmer in Rauville-La-Bigot and deputy secretary general of the FDSEA in the Manche department. What worries him is thefuture of young people who are just settling. Like Etienne, 27, who heads a farm with 90 dairy cows in the canton of Valognes. “The noose is tightening. Even before my installation, I demanded a fairer income for my parents, who are still farmers. Do I still have hope? Yes, but it’s getting complicated”confides the Manchois.
Large retailers are sharks! They don’t want to know anything. They say they want to save citizens who don’t have enough money to put into food. It may be true. But they will not be able to save agriculture as they display it so well, and make it cheap. If we go cheap, we kill something – Frédéric Revel, dairy farmer in Rauville-La-Bigot and deputy secretary general of the FDSEA in the Manche department
A pressure blow to avoid the coup de grace. Thursday evening, the tractors remained in operation. But they may well be out very soon.