We always do, farmers’ protest or no farmers’ protests because we are lucky enough to be able to afford to buy organic, local and seasonal produce. (Although bananas are an exception, but maybe in a few years they will be grown here too.).
Bananas are French, they come from Martinique/Guadeloupe/Réunion and maybe even Guyane, they’re just not local 
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No that is the preserve of accountants, insurance workers or marketing types. Wrong so wrong.
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Food being French is not the priority, I said “organic, local and seasonal produce”. So we do eat fish from Lac Leman as nearer to us than the med! 
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What actually constitues ‘local’ is quite complicated. All our meat - beef, veal, pork, lamb, chickens and duck is from less than 15kms away. Most cheeses too. Currently all the root veg is direct from local producteurs, but we also currently buy a lot of fruit and veg that’s come up from Spain, but then Spain’s closer than Northern France. And there’s also bananas (thanks Vero!) and lastly my biggest sin, Yrgacheffe coffee beans all the way from Ethiopia.
Food sourcing was the similar in S Africa, everything except wine, oranges and coffee came from local farms or hunters - kudu steaks, warthog chops and springbok filet - yum! Also game fish and weird fish from the Indian Ocean.
Unlike the UK one learnt to eat with the local seasons and we try to do the same here in France.
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Just come back from leaving OH at Toulouse airport. He has to be in the UK for a few days.
What normally takes under 4 hours there and back has taken me over 7 ½. We had to leave the motorway at Agen and from then onwards we were in a stream of traffic winding its way through small villages. It began to be questionable whether he would catch his flight. We arrived at Blagnac to find that the entrance into the airport was blocked and we were directed off the airport onto a bypass. We missed the turning. By this stage OH had had enough and said let’s go home. I said let’s just turn round and see if we can get in through another access road. We managed, and he caught his flight, while I faced the long winding journey home with the dog in the back, which was tough on him.
There were police everywhere but little or nothing being done to make sure that those of us who had come off the motorway were getting proper signposting. Several times I struggled to find the right route, especially as it began to get dark.
At Blagnac they were burning tyres, so there was acrid smoke everywhere and the police were doing nothing.
I recognise the farmers have the right to their “manifestations”. I, on the other hand, manifestly do not have the right to go about my law-abiding life without let or hindrance. I’m exhausted.
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That is what is really bugging me now. The police are essentially protecting the farmers and doing sweet FA to keep the 98.5% of the population who are not farmers to be able to carry on their daily business!
Feet up, warming drink and don’t set alarm clock for tomorrow,
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Question,is it legal or not to block a public highway?.If the answer is no,it is illegal,why are the police doing SFA about it,people need to get to work and get to hospital/doctor,s appointments etc,etc.
I’m not a fan of the agressive tactics used by the farmers either, although sympathetic to their plight, but it seems to me that the police are doing nothing essentially because any kind of intervention, e.g. forced towing of farm vehicles (just the logistics of doing that would possibly require the army to intervene), CRS confrontation, would almost certainly result in an escalation, and most farmers are actually licensed to carry actual firearms, with a number of hotheads out there among them, as in any irate French population. I can imagine the various préfets thinking very carefully about what kind of action to engage in so as not to escalate an already tense situation.
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Yes saw that on TF1 last night, felt sorry for anyone flying.
Have just visited the Mairie and the Post Office… and asked the question…
Why aren’t the gendarmes (whoever) enforcing the Law and getting things unblocked/whatever…???
both gave similar replies… the moment the forces of law and order start to do more than “talk”… and use force (of whatever means) there will be an outright battle and blame will land on the gendarmes for any injury to the public…
much shrugging of shoulders… as if to say… it’s hopeless.
I believe one of the issues for the farmers is that they have to follow new EU green regulations but Ukraine is allowed to skirt them. So European farmers are being undercut by cheaper food coming from there.
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Absolutely.
They are totally against importing hormone treated beef too.
Unfair market advantages.
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Just to say I had to go to Lidl earlier to get supplies for an unexpected Raclette I am having on sat night and there were lots of empty spaces on the shelves plus the usual excellent fruit and veggies were very low too and this store is always busy and people re-stocking all the time.My son said the same last night when he went to LeClerc that there was a lot missing off the shelves. Wonder if this is from the agricultural crisis going on or people panicking.
Carrefour in Issoire, the same situation is developing, and the management have put up signs to indicate that the reason behind missing stuff and empty shelves is due to resupply issues. The previous sign they had up was far less neutral and used much more emotional language basically laying the blame on the farmer’s protest movement. It seems that that first notice was short lived, so somebody must have pointed out to the local management that that kind of notice would be more likely to attract the ire of the local farmers…
Noting that Farmers are complaining about restrictions on chemicals etc… and that the government has agreed to “relent”…
I find the following report rather worrying…
That is indeed a bit concerning. Good they caught that, but how much didn’t get caught I wonder 
Fully support the farmers to make a reasonable living, but this isn’t good. I also wonder how stringent tests are on any imported products. After recently reading about corners being cut with bottled water quality, it makes me wonder how many corners are cut with what we consume! A tad concerning.
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Bottled water is a con and contributes massively to plastics and unnecessary road/ship mileage.
Loads of cheap shortcuts in our foods.
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Peckham Spring anyone! Have always drunk tap water here in France, just keep bottles for the visitors and use fancy LaFarge frosted wine bottles to put tap water in and put on the table as well.
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