News Protest France
French farmers take to the streets after scrapping seed coating
Hundreds of French farmers drove their tractors into Paris today. They protest against the increasing restrictions being imposed on the agricultural sector. France's food security is therefore in danger, the demonstrators warn.
About five hundred tractors entered Paris and caused a traffic jam in the French capital. The police warned motorists this morning that traffic would be seriously disrupted by the protest and asked road users to avoid the area of the protests. The immediate reason is the scrapping of the neonicotinoid seed coating on beet seed. The product group has been banned in the EU since 2018, but the French government had stipulated an exception for French outdoor growers with a derogation. The European Court of Justice has ruled against France and on 23 January it was decided to also ban the product for French beet growers next season.
Compensation for loss of yield
According to environmental organizations, scrapping the product is a good thing because it can harm bees. According to farmers, this problem is not or hardly an issue in beet cultivation. It is a seed coating and beets are not a flowering crop that attracts bees. The removal of the seed coating means that the crop is poorly protected against the yellowing virus, which can lead to a significant reduction in yield. The French Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau has promised to consult with the sugar beet sector on Thursday. According to the French association of beet growers CGB, Fesneau has promised that beet growers will be fully compensated for the loss of yield in a year with high pressure from the yellowing virus.
However, the protest is about more than just beet cultivation. The European Commission wants 2030% of the European agricultural area to be cultivated organically by 25 and has considerable ambitions in the field of reducing the use of plant protection products. Due to all the additional restrictions, French farmers lose the competition with cheaper foreign products, according to the French farmers' union FNSEA. "If we continue like this, the French agricultural sector will disappear," FNSEA president Damien Greffin told TV channel France 3.
The farmers drove from the south of Paris to Dôme des Invalides (Napoleon's mausoleum). A symbolic place, according to Greffin, because Napoleon brought beet cultivation to France in order to become independent of sugar from abroad.
Jurphaas Lugtenburg
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