Paris (AFP)

The agricultural fair, which ends on Saturday evening, leaves many questions unanswered for the future of farmers, from income to pensions to support for the environmental transition. What to remember from this 57th edition.

coronavirus

Caught up in the concern linked to the Covid-19 epidemic, the event, which is one of the biggest trade fairs in France, closes its doors Saturday evening 24 hours in advance and has not experienced the usual attendance .

In 2019, it attracted some 630,000 people. "We do not yet have the total attendance figures, but we can say that it is down compared to last year, and that the coronavirus has strongly contributed to it", especially in the last days, declared the president of the show, Jean-Luc Poulain, to AFP on Saturday.

Macron wants to calm tensions

President Emmanuel Macron was eagerly awaited on two questions during his inaugural visit: the spreading of pesticides near homes with the famous non-treatment zones (ZNT), and the pensions of the farming world.

In both cases, he tried to pledge farmers.

On pensions, he considered it "impossible" to revalue current pensions to 85% of the minimum wage, a measure provided for in the future system but which would be too expensive to apply to farmers who are already retired.

But he made an opening: for "current retirees, I don't think we should put it in the pension system, but in the social security financing law, we can improve things a little".

Concerning the ZNTs, effective since January 1, Emmanuel Macron suggested that these strips of uncultivated agricultural land could in the future be "valued", promising that the farmers would be "accompanied" financially. He pledged to ensure "legal certainty" so that the next sowing will be done "in a peaceful environment".

Returned

The question of the income of farmers, and particularly breeders of beef cows, dominated the fair.

Arriving with the Ideal cow, the face of the show, his breeder Jean-Marie Goujat defended the cause of his profession, calling on the Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume in front of many journalists.

It is still too early to make a final assessment of the annual trade negotiations, but the Food Law, which was supposed to bring income to farmyards, still seems to have paid off this year, except for certain sectors such as milk.

"The number one problem is the income of breeders. Today the account is not there yet, they must be remunerated at their fair value and live decently", recognized Didier Guillaume at the start of the show.

controversies

The Médiapart information site has published a three-part survey questioning the FNSEA, in particular the salary levels of some of its managers and its management of a joint employment fund.

Speaking of "settlement of accounts", "vendetta", the union refuted these challenges. "They tried to tarnish the image of the FNSEA by launching their elements before the show, it did not take, and we do not have in our network of protests," said Christiane Lambert, the president of the union, in the margins of a press point at the show.

Another controversy was sparked by the animal rights organization L214, which asked for the closure of a calf slaughterhouse located in the Dordogne after broadcasting a video showing, according to it, "multiple" offenses.

The authorities had initially ensured that they had not detected any "non-compliance with the regulations", but L214 came back to the charge: exchanges of emails internal to the Ministry of Agriculture, sent in error to the association, showed according to her that the offenses "are proven".

After this episode and a veterinary investigation on the spot, the ministry finally withdrew the approval of the slaughterhouse, the time to take corrective measures.

© 2020 AFP