...or European Union institutions are facing growing pressure to ease farmers' outrage, as they are protesting almost everywhere in Europe.
European farmers seem to have been hit hardest by the consequences of climate change, which is why they are strongly opposed to policies that they believe are contradictory, unfair, and a source of concern for the future.
Roads are being blocked across France; manure and agricultural waste have been dumped at government offices, and hay bales have been scattered at fast-food restaurants. It started last year when farmers began unscrewing road signs and putting them back “upside down”. Sometimes the inverted signs were accompanied by the slogan “on marche sur les têtes” (we are walking on our heads), explaining that their world is being turned upside down. Since then, the protests have become increasingly intense. A tragedy recently occurred during the protests when a female farmer and her daughter were killed in a traffic accident in south-west France, while her husband was left seriously injured.
France's largest farmers' union, FNSEA, announced that the protests would continue for as long as necessary, considering the possibility of nationwide actions.
What has angered farmers in France so much?
The anger of French farmers has been sparked by a complex mix of various policies and funding cuts. Agricultural diesel became more expensive as subsidies were withdrawn, farmers had to pay an extra 47 million euros a year for water consumption, and they explain that complex regulations have made it difficult to manage what they can and cannot do.
Farmers oppose the bans on pesticides and herbicides imposed by the Green Deal, and a new EU agreement that could increase beef imports from Brazil and Argentina. They explain that competing with these countries is and will be very difficult, as they do not have to comply with strict animal welfare rules.
Even greater dissatisfaction is caused by the application process for the 9 billion euros in subsidies that France receives from the EU. According to the farmers, they spend at least one day a week preparing the paperwork required to receive these subsidies.
Farmers point out that there are many contradictory policies in the sector that force the industry to try to reduce its environmental impact while simultaneously encouraging increased food production. As the number of people working to produce the food France needs is falling, many are worried about the future.
Some of the aforementioned demands were taken into account in December, when the government abandoned plans to increase licence fees for pumping groundwater and the use of pesticides; the planned increase in diesel prices was also suspended; and in an attempt to calm the protesters, the proposed ban on the weedkiller glyphosate was cancelled.
Following the meeting on 22 January between the FNSEA, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal (Gabriel Attal) and Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau (Marc Fesneau), the union leader Arnaud Rousseau (Arnaud Rousseau) confirmed to the media: “Until there are concrete decisions, no actions will be called off”. However, the French government stated that it had heard the farmers' call.
Anger and fury are spreading across Europe
French farmers have “taken over” the protests from the Netherlands and Germany, where there are also very serious concerns about unfair and unpredictable government decisions in the agricultural sector. Last year, Dutch farmers blocked roads, dumped manure on the streets, and protested outside politicians' homes, opposing nitrogen emission reduction rules.
As the Netherlands is one of the world's largest exporters of agricultural products, the sector is responsible for about half of the country's total nitrogen emissions. In 2019, the Kingdom's highest administrative court ruled that the nitrogen permit system failed to prevent emission damage to specially protected nature reserves, known as the Natura 2000 network. Although the court ruling did not receive widespread publicity, the government soon announced that it had to take radical measures to rectify the situation, including buying out and closing down livestock farms.
The sudden announcement seemed very unfair to the farmers. Over the last 30 years, Dutch farmers have significantly reduced nitrogen emissions from their farms, and funding for rural areas has been cut in favour of investments in cities. Previous government policies had encouraged them to expand their farms, and... now farmers, who were already burdened by debt, are being told that they need to scale back their operations.
The protests led to the founding of the right-wing political party BoerBurgerBeweging (BBB), which promised farmers more influence over agricultural policy. In 2023, the BBB won the provincial elections and, after the Senate elections, became the party with the highest number of seats in the Dutch Senate.
In Germany, too, farmers' anger is mounting over plans to phase out fuel subsidies, which cost the average business up to 3,000 euros a year. Long-term dissatisfaction with the unfair application of environmental policies has added fuel to the fire. Farmers have been taking to the streets since December, and on Monday (22 January) they were joined by environmental activists in Berlin; the streets of the capital were full of heavy vehicles. German farmers support environmentally friendly, non-genetically modified agriculture, which must receive subsidies or at least a fair price for the food produced. This view is shared by many who have taken to the streets across Europe.
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Dissatisfaction has also intensified in the east of the EU, such as in Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria, where farmers have complained about unfair competition caused by Ukrainian grain prices. In Romania and Bulgaria, border crossings have been blocked by tractors and lorries. Last April, the Polish Minister of Agriculture resigned due to this dispute; it must be said that new subsidies have now calmed the situation slightly.
However, many remain concerned about excessively high taxes and increasingly strict regulations. As farms suffer from droughts, floods, and forest fires, it is felt that green policies are squeezing farmers even harder.
Protests could spread in the coming weeks, as Spain and Italy are also ready to join the movement. On 25 January, the European Commission will begin strategic talks with farmers' unions, agricultural businesses, and experts in an attempt to “extinguish the blazing fire”. It must be said, however, that as tensions rise, agriculture is rapidly becoming a key issue across the European Union ahead of the European Parliament elections in June.