French Farmers Spray Manure on Gov Buildings, Protest Regulations

Public buildings have been sprayed with manure, primary highways blocked by bales of hay, sheep fill the streets and imported vegetables have been dumped on the roads of French cities in protest of the government’s actions on low farmgate prices, green regulations and free-trade policies.

The demands of French demonstrators? Fairer prices for produce, continuing diesel tax-breaks for agricultural vehicles, an end to the extra French red tape layered on top of EU rules, and immediate aid for struggling organic farmers.

So long as the farmer’s demands aren’t met, the protests will continue. And after two weeks of continuous marching, these farmers mean it.

Government Inaction Is Action

France’s newly appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal hasn’t paid much attention to the plight of those protesting and has chosen to focus on other matters which could prove detrimental to his political agenda moving forward.

Attal’s lack of action could affect elections before the European parliament in five months and garner additional support for conservative leader Marie Le Pen as her party has been all throughout the country supporting the farmers.

First Hand Testimony

“We’re fed up and exasperated,” says Pierre Bretagne, an organic farmer from Pronic, France. “I love my job – I farm organically because it’s what I believe in and it’s the right thing ethically and in terms of health. In nine years of farming, I’ve never been in a protest; I’d rather be with my animals. But things are getting so difficult – we need decent prices that reflect not just the quality of our produce but the love we put into this job and into the countryside. This is a passion, a vocation, but we don’t get the recognition for it.”

France is the European Union’s (EU) largest agricultural producer providing quality meats, dairy, fruits and vegetables and wine. Due to the EU’s reliance on the goods French farmers provide, this protest is much more intense not only just for those within the country but for those outside of it as well.

“We always have more rules to follow, we are always asked for more and we earn less and less. We cannot live from our work anymore,” 61-year-old farmer Jean-Jacques Pesquerel from the Calvados Coordination Rurale union said.

Olivier Chemin, an organic dairy farmer at Saint-Fraimbault-de-Prières in Mayenne, told The Guardian: “This anger has been on slow-burn for years in France – there has been a distortion of competition, prices are low. I’ve been farming for 22 years. Organic dairy costs more to produce, yet prices are dropping.”

“The demonstrations are about the future of French farming and rural life. It’s about how we feed ourselves, the quality of our food. It’s very seriously under threat from imports that don’t respect European or French rules. If the government doesn’t act, farming will collapse.”

Chemin added that suicide rates are up amongst farmers, many of whom earn a pittance for their work which, for many, includes 60 hour work week.

Agenda 2030 – A Farmer Nightmare

We would be remiss not to mention the roles the United Nations Agenda 2030 and Paris Climate Accord have to play in this debacle.

In 1972, a plan to manage the planet in a “sustainable manner” was created by the United Nations (UN). Agenda 21 was launched to inventory and control all land, water, minerals, plants, animals, construction, means of production, food, energy, information, education, and all human beings in the world.

After Agenda 21 failed in its mission, it was rebranded as Agenda 2030, the year the plan’s goals are slated to be met. Many of the goals included involve intense regulations regarding the environment which would cause farmers to be snuffed out.

As farmers are shut down by “green” regulations, governments would be able to come in and take the land which is a nation’s true wealth.

Now, taking a look at these protests from a much wider lens, we can see that farmers aren’t just standing against terrible domestic policy, but against a globalist agenda that their government adopted.

Similar protests are taking place in Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, Lithuania, Romania and Poland.

People are finding their voices again and creative ways to express them. The sparks flying in France are spreading across Europe.

The times we live in demand boldness.

Our voices affect more than our immediate surroundings, as they’re experiencing in France.

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