LOL Love it!! (See X vid below)

Farmers in the Brittany region of France on Wednesday staged a protest using tractors in the city of Rennes in response to the government’s agricultural policies.

The protesting farmers argue that they are burdened with excessive regulations in the context of their agricultural activities.

According to local reports, upon reaching the headquarters of the Brittany Regional Council, the farmers spread straw and manure in the parking lot and scattered official documents.

Later, the farmers proceeded to the front of the regional directorate of agriculture and forestry with their tractors, where they spread the same.

According to a statement from the Rennes police on the social media platform X, the farmers conducted the protest using over 100 tractors.

French farmers’ signpost protests indicate a major clash on the horizon

If you’re in rural France you might have seen village signposts turned upside down – rather than a simple prank this is a protest from young French farmers which could, writes John Lichfield, be the start of a major clash between farmers, environmentalists and the government.

Normandy has been turned upside down. So, it appears, have large parts of France.

In my corner of Calvados almost all the name signs at the edge of towns and village have been unbolted and replaced the wrong way up. A scribbled sign beside the road announces: “Nous marchons sur la tête.” (We are walking on our heads).

French farmers throw manure on government buildings to protest high taxes in agricultural sector. This is an effective protest. pic.twitter.com/ngZtxJo3dY

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) December 7, 2023

https://twitter.com/RadioGenoa/status/1732773508822835680

The government evidently takes the threat of a farming revolt seriously. The Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne met agri-union leaders on Tuesday and caved in instantly to two of their main demands.

Farmers were supposed to pay out €47 million next year in increased licence fees for pumping water from the ground.

Other grievances remain. Farmers are furious, inter alia, about an unratified EU treaty with South America which would bring cheap Brazilian and Argentinian beef into France.

They also complain about the rise in the price of agricultural diesel fuel (on which they already pay much reduced tax) and delays in the payment of the EU subsidies (of which France receives €7.5 billion a year, more than any other country).

Most of all they complain that France has no clear strategy for balancing the needs of farming and an ecologically friendly future.

Philippe Bardy, leader of the main agricultural union, the FNSEA, in Tarn where the upside-down protest began, said: “Government wants us to change the way we farm; it also urges us to produce as much as possible in the name of food sovereignty. They pressure us to keep salaries high; they also demand that we reduce prices to calm inflation.”

He has a point. Successive French governments for seven decades (with one or two exceptions) have pursued a schizophrenic, or hypocritical approach to farm policy.

They have paid lip-service to “family farms” and “France’s exceptional food quality”. They have allowed or encouraged EU subsidies to be weighted towards the intensive, chemical-drenched cereal farms and large agri-food industries which make France one of the world’s largest mass exporters of food.

Much more on link - including more vids

https://strangesounds.org/2023/12/farmers-are-angry-in-france-french-farmers-signpost-protests-indicate-a-major-clash-on-the-horizon.html