In Toulouse, a city in southwest France, furious farmers buried mounds of manure in front of city buildings on 16th January in a strong statement against the government’s agricultural policy which they claim is putting them at a greater disadvantage. About 400 tractors and 1,000 farmers from all around southwest France descended upon the city and assembled at various locations around the region before daybreak.
Rumbling into the ancient city centre of Toulouse in the early morning light, they blocked full lanes on certain roads and created enormous traffic jams while blowing their horns and towing trailer loads of hay and excrement.
Meanwhile in France 🇫🇷
— James Melville (@JamesMelville) January 16, 2024
Farmers protesting in Toulouse don’t hold back with how they show their displeasure against the French government. You mess with a French farmer at your peril. pic.twitter.com/Bk3HIM0NjU
The head of the local police force urged people to stay away from central Toulouse and bus services were forced to alter their routes. The tractors dumped dozens of trailer loads of rotten fruit, hay and manure in front of the regional authority headquarters as soon as they arrived. Approximately one thousand farmers flocked to the Capitole square on foot and later in the day, a delegation was scheduled to meet with the chief of police in the area.
Protesters contended that farmers around the region are suffering as a result of rising taxes and social charges. The cost of living has risen nationwide and this is in addition to the tax increases and other levies, other expenses include rising fuel and animal feed prices.
Farmers in other parts of the neighbourhood set out to destroy manure in the parking lots of big suburban supermarkets. According to the farmers, a lot of large grocery chains won’t provide their produce at fair prices. The development came after multiple demonstrations in the area in November of last year when farmers expressed fear for their livelihoods.
Earlier, German farmers began a week-long statewide agitation on 8th January by clogging roadways and major highways in almost all 16 Federal states of Germany with thousands of tractors and trucks. There have been reports of blockades in Bavaria, Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Baden-Württemberg. Notably, the administration has reversed its prior plan to eliminate diesel subsidy reduction, yet the protests have persisted.
The convoys also stopped production at a Volkswagen auto plant in the city of Emden in northwest Germany, bringing thousands of tractors and trucks with them. The staff were unable to report to work due to the roadblock. The blockade in the northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania received backing from haulage companies protesting against the increase in lorry tolls. Reports highlighted that thousands of participants carried banners with the words “No farmer, no future” as they gathered in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.
Farmers protests rock Europe
Tractor columns have been obstructing roads in Germany, causing traffic jams and hassles for commuters. The most intense pushback has been in the Netherlands, where government efforts to dismantle farms and reduce the number of animals on them have been met with violent and ongoing protests following a 2019 court ruling on nitrogen emissions. Similar brawls in Belgium resulted in tractor convoys jamming Brussels’ European Union district in March of the previous year. Dairy farmers in Ireland, where there have been fewer demonstrations, marched last month with their cows to the offices of three government officials in protest of the nitrogen restrictions.
Following the government’s announcement in January 2023 that it would limit the amount of water farmers may extract from the drought-stricken Tagus river, farmers protested in Madrid’s streets following the country’s warmest year ever. French farmers protesting a ban on pesticides drove tractors through Paris the following month.
The German government softened a plan to reduce subsidies for diesel in farmyard vehicles after incensed farmers dumped manure on Berlin streets in December. However, advocacy groups are pressuring them to abandon the idea completely. The German Farmers’ Association President, Joachim Rukwied, announced that 100,000 tractors had taken to the streets for a week of disruptive protests. “Farmers today sent a clear signal to the federal government to completely withdraw the planned tax increases.”
The cost of having to pay for more of their pollution is too much for some farmers, who are already trying to make ends meet in the wake of the energy crisis and epidemic. Some complained that they are devalued by city people who eat the food they raise without understanding its source and that they are burdened by excessive regulations. Farmers in agricultural superpowers like the Netherlands and France have voiced their dissatisfaction with government pressure to reduce production after years of encouragement to increase it.
