So the farmers are sacrificed to Renault and Peugeot?
Theyāre hardly being āsacrificedā, instead RW farming unions are being whipped up by the NR
to demonstrate against a government that had voted against Mercosur in its current form and had lobbied extensively on their behalf.
I think thereās a lot of hysteria and posturing on the part of the farming unions. Weāre not going to be flooded with Argentinian beef and French carnivores will largely continue to consume French beef. I imagine the French dairy industry is safe too, we wonāt be buying Argentinian or Uruguayan cheese (if there even is such a thing). And I doubt if S American wheat is suitable for French breadmaking.
And while trying to stay on subject, today the president of the French egg producersā union complained about the weather and avian flu preventing him from shipping 300,000 eggs. Well, I certainly wouldnāt want to support that sort of farming.
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^This.
āBig Farmingā is just as insidious a lobby as āBig Pharmaā in many cases.
Same in UK where Labour were forced into a backtrack on a fairly generous inheritance tax deal designed to stop farmland being used as a tax haven by corporations.
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But at least Big Pharma does some good, whereas Iām wholly against industrial scale farming. Low quality produce, poor conditions for the animals and usually large scale pollution. And much of it is in otherwise fairly civilised countries like the Netherlands and Denmark where you might assume thereād be higher standards of animal welfare, but where instead comparatively small areas of farmland has led to very intensive agriculture
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I thunk Big Pharma arw a bit naughty too. In fact my brief exposure to working in pharma made me thunk only their excesses would be worse than those of investment bankers.
99000 tonnes for the entire EU, compared to a French production of something like 1.5 million tonnes. As you say, bring stirred up.
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It reminds me of Ken Clarkeās famous observation regarding proposed changes in politics, that only the losers shout and scream from the rooftops. Winners keep quiet.
I think there is also political cowardice on the part of leading French politicians who could, if they were brave, point out that there are sectors of French agriculture who will benefit from Mercosur (especially dairy and champagnes/wine). Bigger picture, with Trump imposing tariffs in the US , and a wish to avoid even more dependency on China, the EU badly wants new markets and Mercosur very much fits the bill.
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Irish cattle farmers currently benefit from an EU exemption relating to the maximum density of cattle that can be grazed on any given surface. As a result, in some counties, you see fields with densities that would be unimaginable on the mainland. The effect this has on the quality of water courses is dramatic, but if any TD or prominent member of the public should dare raise the question with a member of government, they get roundly shot down (metaphorically speaking) by both the government and farming unions alike, for endangering the livelihood of tens of thousands of farmers just trying to earn a crust.
Thereās a lot to be said for the role and benefits of agriculture in society as a whole, but intensive practices of the like we see today are not it IMO. I see what my farmer neighbour has done here since he took over the leased land next to our house - systematic destruction of the hedgerows, removal of trees, groundworks to optimize grass growing surface and muck spreading just before it rains or snows. Then at some stage weāll wonder why there are no fish or crustaceans in the local streams, or insects in the fields, and instead weāll have algae and high levels of phosphates and nitrates. At least he has begrudgingly accepted not to throw s##t on the field next to our house when we are in residence but the first chance he can, he does. This quest for financial performance at all costs is slowly killing everything.
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Here in South Burgundy the depth of soil is not deep enough for arable crops, hence Charolais beef.
I am a lifelong veggie, so I wouldnāt know about any beef. (My farmer neighbour in the Aveyron raises Aubrac cattle. Beautiful gigantic animals. I love watching them, but as far as killing and eating one? If you want to do that, go to your local abattoir and do it yourself) . I have lived in various parts of France in the last 26 years. Mountains, hills, flatlands, hot areas, cool areas, areas with good soil and bad soil, and I can tell you that French farmers these days will plough up ANY terrain, if they can grow Mais, Colza or whatever in it! I can see ploughed fields from where I live, at angles approaching 45 degrees! I have also seen many horrendous tractor related accidents, and many broken ploughshares. Just saying.
You might find many of us would be happy to do so. Iāve no qualms about despatching and butchering, and suspect many SFers would be similar.
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Iāve no problem with dispatching an animal I was going to eat, either, Iāve done it before and would do it again.
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Canāt say Iām keen on the idea, Iām more of a gatherer than a hunter, but Iām eating them nonetheless.
Me too these days, but if I had to I would, I grow and slaughter my own veg too 
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I am an Ancient Mariner. 22 years in the Royal Navy. Boy and man. It was hard being a veggie in those days, but it was possible. I am 82 years old now, but still cycling every day and performing live rock gigs in France. I owe my excellent health to giving up smoking, quaffing red wine, and not eating meat! Oh, plus being a great granddad six times! I lived a short distance from an abattoir in St. Affrique (12) and to hear the screams from the animals, especially the poor pigs, from morning until night was horrendous. It takes a special kind of person to work in a place like that. Your hands grow large in time, from the blood products from the animals. I knew a few of the workers who used the local bars. Go and have a ā butchersā at the slaughter mate. I guess the majority of carnivores would not. I doubt very much what you say. SFers? Quels sont -ils?
Not trying to start a fight, but animal blood wonāt make your hands grow bigger, not even if theyāre loaded up with growth hormones (not in France they wonāt be). But if they did, it would be an asset playing guitar.
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Four cockerels in the past weeks.
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Cāest toi et moi - SF = Survive France.
Yet I worked in so called big pharma on drugs in the fields of oncology and combating MRSA. One of the reasons it is big is to dilute the costs of R&D, most drugs do not make it past trial stage.
I am proud of what I did, I am sure I helped to save lives. I cant judge whether my pay was disproportionate, but it was the market rate.