By AFP - Agence France Presse
French farmers surround public buildings in protest against regulations.
French farmers blocked the entrances to two public buildings in Paris on Thursday in protest against the “restrictions” imposed by regulatory agencies, which they say result in lost production.
Around 100 farmers erected a cardboard wall in front of France's food safety agency, ANSES, south of Paris, after placing wooden blocks preventing INRAE, the country's agricultural research institute, from entering the capital.
This follows Tuesday's demonstrations against a planned free trade agreement between the European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc, which France opposes for fear it will damage its domestic agricultural sector.
Farmers fear that any agreement would open up EU markets to cheaper meat and produce from South American competitors, who are not obliged to adhere to strict EU rules on pesticides, hormones, land use, and environmental measures.
Thursday's protesters - led by the farmers' union FNSEA - say they are also feeling the impact of restrictions imposed by France's regulatory agencies on products such as insecticides.
There are “no effective alternative solutions,” said Remi Pierrard, a sugar beet and cereal grower in the town of Provins, who said he had recorded “productivity losses of up to 50% a year”.
“We were banned from using an insecticide that protected the beet. Now we have to use a sprayer, which is much less effective,” said Pierrard.
The French government claims that pesticides pose a danger “to health and the environment” with exposure to the chemicals linked to cancer and Parkinson's disease.
Farmers say that institutions like INRAE could help them be more efficient, but instead, they are imposing regulations on them that harm production.
“We're funding a national institute that costs a billion euros a year, but all it does is impose restrictions on us,” said the head of a young farmers' association, Donatien Moyson, referring to INRAE.
“We are here to fight against the obstacles to agriculture,” he added.
Elsewhere, farmers in the southern city of Nice dumped manure and sheep's wool in front of the regional town hall, according to the local press.
France's agriculture minister, Annie Genevard, condemned the protests as “attacks on people and property,” telling AFP that such actions “undermine the legitimate demands of farmers.”
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