In front of the A-13 toll, which connects Paris with Normandy, a good atmosphere reigns. The highway is closed in both directions, 50 km from the capital. Several police officers arriving on motorcycles talk friendly with the farmers, who kill time smoking and drinking beers. It’s not cold, but they keep a fire going. A hundred huge tractors with banners, some romantic in tone, are parked on both roads. “Love us and we will do the rest,” says one of them.
Stéphanie, 34 years old, got up at three in the morning to take care of her sheep and rabbits. She then drove an hour and a half to get to the highway protest and relieve her colleagues who spent the night here. “We will endure whatever it takes; Until now they have not listened to us,” says one of them.
“Our profession is not attractive to a young farmer who wants to replace another who is retiring,” complains Stéphanie. People are not motivated. Professional schools are emptying. Before, passion justified working long hours, but now there is no profitability. We lose passion by having to work so hard to earn nothing.”
The young rancher is the mother of two children, ages 3 and 6. “You notice that they already feel the passion, the bond with the animals, that after school and during the weekend they bottle-feed the suckling pigs,” she adds. But if when they grow up the situation continues as it is now, I will not encourage them to continue our profession.”
Denis, 35, a Young Farmers union member and with a farm where he grows wheat and rapeseed, does not really like being reminded of the economic damage caused by blockades and the French protectionist obsession.
–You impede the freedom of movement of goods throughout Europe. Spanish farmers also have the right to work and live, right?
–We are not the ones who prevent them from working. We just limited the flow of products a little.
In the group that forms around the journalist, some remember that France imports too many foods that do not meet the same quality standards, while it exports “high-end products,” such as champagne. “Half of the chicken and lamb sold comes from abroad,” warns Stéphanie, combatively.
The severe phytosanitary regulations, both European and French, are one of the workhorses. “Whenever a product is banned, there should necessarily be an alternative solution, and that is happening now,” insists Denis.
–Do you feel like victims of the so-called green politics, of environmentalists? Isn’t it a paradox?
–Yes, partly yes. It’s true. Things are imposed on us that are an ideology for some, but not necessarily for us.
