Photo used for illustrative purposes.

French farmers from different parts of the country, starting from the south, have been systematically putting up barricades on the highway leading to Paris from the northern city of Lille, which is on the road from Belgium. This resulted in a huge jam of traffic moving towards France.

They are angry with President Emmanuel Macron’s government over many issues including the pressure on lowering prices by retail food chains, the import of foreign food at cheaper prices, and they are angry with the European Union (EU) environmental regulations which the French government implements rigorously.

Macron had promised ‘civil rearmament’, or strengthening the people against excessive restrictions. They complain that he has not acted on his promise. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who had recently been appointed by Macron, had been speaking to the farmers’ unions but there are no solutions at hand as yet.

The Macron government is caught between the two lobbies – farmers and retail food chains. During the time last year when inflation was high, Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire had promised the giant food retailer chains like Carrefour that farm prices would be lowered. The farmers complain that lowering of prices would affect their livelihoods. Le Maire acknowledged, “The central issue is farmers revenue”, and he assured on Friday that fair prices for agricultural produce would be ensured. This was after months of negotiations with the retailers when he promised them that farm prices would be lowered. It looks like the government is caught in a wedge between the two influential lobbies.

The farmers complain that the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), which has a budget of over 57 billion euros, had not paid the dues in 2023, and that has made it difficult for the retail suppliers to the farmers. The EU’s environmental regulation requires that 20 per cent of the agricultural produce by 2022 should be organic, but in France it stands at 6 per cent. The farmers say that they cannot be made to carry the burden of transition to organic farming without government support.

There are specific complaints against the Macron government for the special tax on tractor fuel. And about the import of foreign food products. One out of two chickens sold in France was imported. “We always have more rules to follow, we are always asked for more and we earn less and less. We cannot live from our work anymore,” according to 61-year-old farmer Jean-Jacques Pesquerel of the Calvados Rurale union. This is the general complaint of the French farmers.

It is natural that in the runup to the European Parliament elections in June, the far right wants to exploit the discontent of the farmers. Its leader Marine Le Pen said, “Emmanuel Macron addresses farmers with a hand on the shoulders and then knifes them in the back in Brussels. The farmers’ worst enemies can be found in this government.”

Agriculture is the mainstay of the French economy and it is the largest farm producer in Europe. France faces a demographic dilemma on the rural front. A significant number of farmers are set to retire by 2026, and there are not enough people to buy the farms and run them, though there has been an attempt by the Macron government to make farming economically attractive. Droughts have been plaguing French farms, especially in the vineyards, and it could be one of the reasons that people are hesitant to take to farming.

France faces a big challenge on the farm front, and it is something that concerns Europe as well. One of the successes of the common market in Europe was the farm sector. And if it were to collapse, it is not just France but the whole of Europe that could be in trouble.