The FDSEA 21 and the Young Farmers 21, supported by professional structures, called for demonstrations this Friday, January 29 in Dijon. The union intends to denounce the new regulations governing agricultural activity. Update: under pressure from breeders, a wolf shot should be authorized soon in Côte-d’Or.
“Too much is too much”, thus began the appeal leaflet to demonstrate in Dijon this Friday, January 29, 2021 distributed by the FDSEA 21, the majority agricultural union in Côte-d’Or, joined by the Young Farmers 21 as well as in particular storage and irrigation organizations.
“New year, new ideas of constraints to further penalize our agriculture. (…) If food sovereignty is at the heart of the challenges of economic recovery, we will have to start by listening to those who produce ”, launched the FDSEA 21 to its members.
“All in tractors”
“A demonstration of scale” was announced with the invitation to come “all in tractors”. Appointment was given at noon in front of the departmental direction, rue de Mulhouse in Dijon. Tractors to converge from five main roads towards the city center. Then on the program, the DREAL (boulevard Voltaire), the DRAAF and the DDPP (rue Hoche) and the prefecture for an end of the event estimated at 5 p.m. (read the press release).
On social networks, the prefecture and the National Police announced that “a high risk of traffic disruption is expected for the whole day” while Divia warned that “the Bus & Tram network may be disrupted from the end of the morning “.
JCT
The live event:
12:02 p.m .: tractors from the Dijon plain have arrived at the DDT, rue de Mulhouse in Dijon. 150 tractors are expected according to the FDSEA. About twenty tractors arrived.
12:34 p.m .: farmers open the latch on the barrier allowing access to the DDT parking lot. 60 farmers enter without breaking and entering, before depositing the remains of sheep, possibly killed by a wolf.
Farmers “at the end of their rope”
12.35 p.m.: Antoine Carré, president of the Jeunes Agriculteurs de Côte-d’Or, said he was very fed up, to also explain the deposits made at the DDT: “The grain sorting, that’s what we clean when we bring in our cereals in the summer. We can’t do anything with it. This is really a good opportunity to come and put them in front of the DDT because we no longer have the means to bring straw or manure. We are taken by the throat financially.
Today, there is a big big fed up with the administrations which are only on the punitive and which do not listen to us. In June, we came to claim wolf attacks. Today, it’s been two days in quick succession that there have been wolf attacks on a farm of a farmer near Saint-Seine-l’Abbaye. He’s at the end of his rope and we are laughed at.
Quite simply, it’s the French-style administration: when you want to do things for the benefit of farmers, it’s impossible to do, very long. On the other hand, to add constraints to us, to have us cover the piles of manure at the end of the fields, to have us put cutlery on all the crops when we have water problems in the summer, it is possible and these are constraints that are costly to breeders and grain producers.
With our selling prices, we can’t do it anymore. The Egalim law only benefits one organization, supermarkets (large and medium-sized stores). We did not see a single penny when we believed it.
We want to meet all the departments of the administrations to discuss with them. The purpose of the meeting with the prefect is also that all the departments are there so that they cannot pass the buck to each other, especially on the water reserves. ”
“We have a minister who is making efforts”
For François-Xavier Lévêque, president of the Vegetable Productions Commission of the FDSEA: “The cup is full, all productions combined. The government is taking advantage of the confinement to pass laws one after the other. We are being told about food sovereignty but we are killing our farmers who have made enormous efforts. All of these laws are written by people who have never set foot outside, like in terms of pollinators. We have nothing left to fight against and we are eliminating the crops of rapeseed and mustard.
All the controls, the directives on nitrate and the reduction of phytosanitary products are additional constraints imposed by people who do not know the agricultural world. We have a minister who is making efforts for our agriculture, but we are faced with a militant administration that is there to destroy the farmer.
Measures for the protection of the environment are not feasible because they do not make sense. “
“The wolf, we don’t want it!”
On site, a call to demonstrate with respect for people was launched, while recalling that farmers are still there to express their dissatisfaction. Gilles Duthu, mayor of the commune of Francheville and sheep farmer, expressed his anger: “The wolf, we don’t want it!”. This comes back to the wolf attack that was committed on a sheep farm on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, “50 meters from a house”. 6 sheep were killed and a seventh may have to be euthanized.
These feelings evoked and all this anger, the farmers shared with Françoise Laubier, director of DDT 21, during calm and courteous exchanges. “A clear vision of agriculture” was demanded by the demonstrators. “We know that there is a wolf, we kill him, period,” we said in the assembly vis-à-vis the wolf. As for the administrative constraints, Jacques Carrelet de Loisy insisted: “We are poking our heads here, it cannot continue”.
The director of DDT 21 for her part assured that these problems and these attacks are followed closely, with the desire to “go to the next level”. She then defended the officials of the DDT, for their responsiveness and objectivity in the payment of aid and compensation to farmers in difficulty.
13:24: the demonstration in front of the DDT is over. According to our information, the rally resulted in 80 tractors and 120 farmers on site.
1:56 p.m .: a few bales of straw are left in front of the DREAL, boulevard Voltaire in Dijon. The snack break is decreed.
“Controls against life on our farms”
2:27 p.m .: the farmers set off again to demonstrate in front of the DRAAF, rue Hoche in Dijon.
14:41: the first tractors arrive in front of the DRAAF.
2:52 p.m .: manure is dumped in front of the entrance. The new director of the DRAAF comes to discuss with the president of the FDSEA 21, the feet in the dung.
Faced with Marie-Jeanne Fotré-Muller, who arrived on October 1 as regional director of the DRAAF, Fabrice Genin, president of the FDSEA 21, spoke of a “lack of listening and misunderstood efforts”, without forget to castigate “directives and controls against life on our farms”. “This is the first act. If things do not change, we are ready to come every week, ”he said, before handing over to Antoine Carré, having again expressed his fed up, not hesitating in parallel to speaking of denunciations and controls “worthy of the Vichy regime”.
15:52: Arrival of the demonstrators rue de la préfecture. 6 tractors are authorized to park in front of the prefecture. A delegation of 6 people (FDSEA, JA, Chamber of Agriculture of Côte-d’Or and a breeder concerned by the wolf attacks) will be received at the prefecture with the 5 representatives of the administrations visited today.
4:26 p.m .: Traffic was cut off on rue de la préfecture. The farmers were able to approach on foot after having parked their tractors on the Place de la République.
A “defensive shot” from a wolf authorized in Côte-d’Or
5.15 p.m .: The delegation of farmers leaves the prefecture.
On leaving the prefecture, Fabrice Genin announced that “a defensive shot” against the wolf should be allowed by the prefect.
“On the controls and the use of products, the prefect has made a commitment that there will be a meeting for each subject in the coming month, so that we can point by point express our complaints and see what is regulatory and what is not. What we can regret is that the prefect remains in a regulatory posture to enforce the law, ”he also said, then calling for continued mobilization to continue to weigh. He also deplored the low number of tractors at the rendezvous. “We will have to come back if this is not enough with the Minister of Agriculture because he holds the same speech as us”, declared Fabrice Genin.
Antoine Carré was not sorry either, calling for solidarity when checks are carried out at a farmer. “We will all be present during the checks and we will see if they are also biting”. Anger also expressed by François-Xavier Lévêque on the lack of listening on the part of the DREAL in particular. “We will not let go and we will continue to put pressure on them.”
5:28 pm: The demonstration is over. Farmers are returning to their farms.
The prefecture authorizes a sheep farmer to carry out simple wolf defense shots
The prefecture responds to the demonstrators of the FDSEA and the Young Farmers
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