Glyphosate is no longer anything to do with Monsanto. Their patent expired some time ago and was bought by Bayer, a German pharmaceutical Co. The EU member states narrowly voted to approve a further 10 year licence but each member State still has the right to approve it’s use or not. Just a few facts… 
To date, 87% support for the farmers. Perhaps there’s less selfishness still, less peevishness over personal inconvenience than in some other countries? When you’ve produced, say, a melon (or several thousand) costing 0 .80c and are forced to sell it for 0.20c then subsequently see it for sale in a supermarket (or on a market) for €2.50, wouldn’t you be angry? It’s not possible for all producers to sell directly to the public. A lot of farms are inaccessible and simply don’t have the personnel. Unfortunately, damaging supermarkets is only going to result in price hikes for everyone, so until the government intervenes to ensure fair payments to growers and a reduction in obscene profits, nothing will change.
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Bayer-Monsanto = same company, if you want to sell big in the EU, you have to be in the EU hence the merger.
Sadly a lot from extreme right wing factions all across europe. A real gripe about production costs v sale costs is being turned up into a much nastier thing, especially Poland:Ukraine.
With the price of veg in France compared to the UK someones making a profit?
Yes, same happens in Bretagne. Cauliflower seedlings bought at €0,15 each one (and thousands are planted every year), they then got €0,25 for each “perfect” supermarket specimen that then went on to be sold at €2 plus. My neighbours and friends in the farming sector worked their socks off in all weathers, suffered horrendous hand injuries from cutting everything by hand with long knives, never went on holidays and their pensions were so small they carried on working until they literally dropped dead or became bedridden from all those years of hard graft. There was no other employment in the region for those who came from farming stock unless they moved away and many were not fully educated either.
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I am fully behind their protests. Farmers should be paid a fair price for their products and have some money left over at the end of their ‘shift’.
Don’t be fooled by a 100k tractor, its a neccessary piece of equipment and fuel costs should not attract extra taxes.
I had to change trains arriving in Limoges instead of Angouleme. Longer journey and extra €30… no matter in the long run for me, but striking will hopefully change something for further farming generations.
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I believe the quota on imported chicken from Ukraine has been increased. That probably doesn’t encourage French chicken farmers.
Are any warnings given about road closures. Google maps don’t seem to know. Which online maps do the french use and would they be any better? We just got caught out on the N141 between Angloume and Limoges. If we’d known we’d have stayed at home
It’s been in the local press… and on the News… and our Prefecture has been sending updates…
I was told bison-fute was one to check…
Not knowing a great deal about the current price of tractors, I quoted a middling range price from a s/h tractor website, but in any case, your point seems to reinforce the one I was making.
Actually, that’s more or less how they’re planted by many smallholders in the the strip fields of the Lot Valley’s meanders. Some have elderly tractors, but little else seems to have changed since mediaeval times, some actually plough by hand with machines that elsewhere have become garden ornaments.
We walk our dog around their fields every day and are well aware of what goes on locally. By contrast the local big fancy kit is owned by dairy farmers up on the Cantal plateau.
rather a mixed response from the farmers… with varying degrees of upheaval continuing in some places… more info should be available tomorrow…
Yes, the supermarkets Corona.
You’ll see it when you get here.
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I counted 50 giant tractor and trailer rigs past here on their way to the motorwy in a period of 1 or hours around 5pm and very few returning. More, after I stopped counting.
I’m fully with the farmers. Beginning to wonder if the highly redistributive nature of France taxation is just redistributing medium and poor people’s income amongst them and not actually redistributing anything much from the rich.
I’m much more interested in political things here in France than I ever was prior to coming here.
As a titbit I can also tell you that tyres on tractors, each tyre, costs literally thousands of Euros. They are very soft so as to grip in mud and on slopes. So they wear enormously quickly with even a little time on the road.
I’d say each farmer heading past me to the motorway 2km away is costing himself hundreds and hundreds of Euros, possibly over a thousand Euros, in tyre wear in order to participate in the protests.
They have my support.
I fully support the concern over rising production costs and decreasing sales prices. There needs to be fairer balance.
But some of the biggest issues are about things like europe - which is a bit hypocritical since French farmers benefit hugely from the common agricultural policy, and this saves many from bankruptcy - and is not something I support. I am also against the total lack of concern for the environment.
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They have totally blocked the A9 in both directions to and from Spain still here today and don’t look like moving any time soon plus one of the main roads upto Andorra and the ski resorts as well.
Same here.
The N141 dual carriageway just past the Chabanais roundabout and St. Junien is closed (farmers have dumped piles of tyres and huge black bags on the carriageways).
Have they blocked any of the fuel depot access roads yet? I see the beginnings of queues at the pumps…
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Any idea as to how long it’s going to be closed or how do we find out? I don’t feel like crawling behind a tractor loaded with manure again!