Farmers raised a wall of concrete blocks in the early hours of Thursday, November 28, to symbolically block the entrance to the National Institute for Research on Agriculture, Food and the Environment (INRAE), in Paris.
Gathered very early, before 6 in the morning, without tractors or machines, they were first surrounded by the police and then, calmly, they placed the concrete blocks in front of the Inrae. Around 7:30 a.m. they began to disperse.
Access to the building’s front door was not blocked, with a gap existing between the concrete block wall and the entrance. Labeled in orange on the wall about two meters high, we can read “INRA Escrolos”while a banner shows: “For sale, no longer useful – Lease will be transferred – Savings: 1.1 billion euros”.
During their action, organized by the majority agricultural union alliance FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA), the protesters accused INRAE of organizing “decrease”for no more “provide the means to fulfill [leur] role of producers ». “We finance a national institute with one billion euros a year, which only presents us with limitations”underlined Donatien Moyson, co-president of Jeunes Agriculteurs Ile-de-France Ouest.
“We have restrictions on the use of certain products without an effective alternative solution, which leads to production losses”testified Rémi Pierrard, beet and cereal producer near Provins (Seine-et-Marne), member of the JA. “They banned us from an insecticide that protected beets at the beginning of their growth against an aphid. Now we are forced to treat with a sprayer, a much less effective treatment and less respectful of auxiliary fauna, with productivity losses of up to 50% annually.he added.
Union organizations received at the ministry on Friday
In the morning, the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, condemned, in a statement to the Agence France-Presse, “with the greatest firmness, any attack on people or property that harms the legitimate demands of farmers.”
Ms. Genevard will receive the president of INRAE on Thursday afternoon. “Discuss the issue of simplification for farmers, the role of the institute and find common answers to too many administrative limitations”according to the ministry. On Friday morning you will receive “At your request, union organizations can move forward with concrete measures aimed at simplifying the daily lives of our farmers”adds his ministry.
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After a first week of mobilization under the sign of opposition to the proposed free trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay), the union alliance decided to focus this new week of agricultural mobilization in what he considers to be “impediments” to the sector, attacking in particular state services and prefectures. On Wednesday, 28 actions were carried out in 24 departments, the authorities recorded, in which 1,600 people and 479 agricultural machines participated, in actions that aimed “more public buildings”.
