San Francisco Frontiers - France's agriculture show, an outlet for angry farmers

One of the world's largest agriculture fairs, the "Salon de l'Agriculture" that opened Saturday, attracts some 600,000 visitors over nine days.

The bonanza showcases all aspects of French agriculture which despite the country's rapid post-war industrialisation is still a European leader in the sector.

France is the European Union's top cereal and beef producer, the world's second-largest producer of wine, and makes a staggering 1,200 varieties of cheese.

The sector's gigantic economic role makes the gathering a mandatory stop for French leaders, but also a political minefield, as President Emmanuel Macron discovered to his cost at last year's edition.

During his entire 13 hour-long visit among 1,400 exhibitors and 4,000 animals a year ago, the president was heckled as protesting farmers crashed gates and fought with police, prompting repeated temporary closures of the entire event.

Before cutting the ribbon for this year's show Saturday, Macron met with farming associations, called for "respectful dialogue" and gave assurances that France was still fighting against a free-trade agreement between the European Union and members of South America's Mercosur bloc that has farmers up in arms.

Macron's advisors also urged him to spend less time at the fair than last year to limit the number of potentially hostile encounters.

- 'Won't shake Macron's hand' -

Guy Desile, a 58-year-old cereal farmer in the northwestern Eure region, told AFP ahead of the event that he feared "losing it" as his debts build up.

"I won't shake Macron's hand," said Jean-Philippe Yon, a livestock farmer from northern France, accusing the government of failing to ensure sufficient income for farmers. "We expect concrete steps from the president," he said.

Farmers in the southern Tarn area are running a campaign of turning road signs in the wrong direction in protest against the government, an illustration of the "It's all gone topsy-turvy" slogan that the powerful farming union FNSEA has had printed on T-shirts for its members.

Such protests can be effective. In 2024, after weeks of farmers blocking motorways, then prime minister Gabriel Attal scrapped a planned fuel tax rise affecting the sector although the move turned out to do little to appease the protesters.

The French movement was copied elsewhere in Europe, including in Poland where solidarity with Ukraine began to crumble in the face of unwelcome farming imports from the eastern neighbour at war with Russia.

French statistics show that close to half of the families running farms live below the poverty line, are often deep in debt and depend heavily on government subsidies for survival.

- 'Forced on them decades ago' -

At the heart of the problem lies a rapid and profound change in their business conditions, ranging from new rules linked to climate change and health requirements, to price pressure brought on by big agro-business and cheaper competition from abroad.

"Farmers are being asked to change a system that was forced on them decades ago," said Edouard Lynch, a historian, adding that government support has been insufficient to offset the impact of change.

Structural problems have been compounded by misfortune: Excessive rainfall in the autumn of 2024 caused wheat production to drop to its lowest level in four decades and wine production to fall by a quarter, while livestock was decimated by devastating epidemics.

Macron has been eager to show that the government still has farmers' backs.

He reminded reporters that he was trying to assemble a "blocking minority" of EU members to prevent the Mercosur accord from being implemented.

"Our farmers cannot become an adjustment tool," Macron said.

European farmers are crying foul over supposedly less stringent regulations on the sector in South America, pointing especially to the industry's role in destroying huge swathes of the Amazon rainforest, a crucial buffer against climate change.

Macron also said on Saturday that he would tell US President Donald Trump not to make allies "suffer" with new tariffs when he meets him in Washington on Monday.

French wine and cognac exporters, who sell vast quantities of produce in the US, would be especially hard-hit if Trump makes good on his tariff threats.

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R.Baker--SFF