thousands of French farmers descend on Paris
David Yarrow
'Apologies... But the Farmers Are Coming'
….an estimated 1,700 tractors and thousands of agricultural workers from across the country rolled into downtown Paris on Thursday – part of a growing protest movement led by unionized small- and medium-scale farmers who say they are on the verge of bankruptcy due to drops in food prices, an export glut, and the encroaching threat of factory farms.
"It will create some discomfort for the Parisians," acknowledged Xavier Beulin, president of the FNSEA, the nation's largest farmers union and organizer of the protest, during a radio interview on Wednesday. Apologizing for the disruption in advance, Beulin said the dramatic show of force from the farmers was necessary in order to "show the government that there is a great determination, great suffering, and great exasperation" on the part of the nation's struggling food producers.
According to the French Agricultural Ministry, an estimated 10 percent of farms in France—approximately 22,000 sites—are on the brink of bankruptcy with a combined debt of one billion euros.
The Associated Press spoke with grain farmer Pierre Bot, a grain farmer from Vauhallan south of Paris, who said like many small farmers he feels increasingly squeezed out by industrial farming operations which make him fearful of the future. "It's not popular to annoy all the people on their way to work," he said. "Nevertheless, it's one of the only ways to make ourselves heard."
David Yarrow
dyar...@gmail.com
573-818-4148
www.dyarrow.org
http://dyarrow.blogspot.com
one moment can change a day,
one day can change a life,
one life can change the world