Alexis Bourdon (correspondent in Toulouse) / Photo credit: FREDERIC SCHEIBER / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 07:32 a.m., January 16, 2024

Farmers will demonstrate again on Tuesday in front of the prefecture of Toulouse. The demand is always the same and resonates throughout Europe, from Romania to Germany: those who feed the population want to be able to make a decent living without being stunned by standards and threatened by imports. Europe 1 was able to meet a cereal farmer who will be in the procession.

Farmers in Occitania in the streets of Toulouse on Tuesday. A month and a half after the last mobilization, which caused many disruptions, the actors of the agricultural world are back at it again on the occasion of a regional event. They regret the impoverishment of their profession. In Haute-Garonne, the average salary of a farmer is 6,000 euros net per year. Europe 1 met one of the members of the procession.

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"It's not playable for us in France"

On his cereal farm in Haute-Garonne, Matthieu is preparing to demonstrate. The farmer loads bales of hay on the back of his tractor to head for Toulouse. What he denounces above all is the difference in standards between European countries. "Some herbicides are allowed on the other side of the border and are banned in France. The same goes for glyphosate: we're not going to use it on crops that are in place. It is used before or after. And now, wheat that has been treated with glyphosate up to seven or eight times is brought into France. It's not playable for us in France," he said.

The farmer also deplores the explosion of his costs. "The State decides, through European directives, to increase the costs related to RNG, in particular, to non-road diesel. For my farm, this gives me an increase of 4,000 euros per year, so it's not bearable today and there is financial damage behind it," says Matthieu. The demonstrators are due to meet the prefect of Haute-Garonne later today to negotiate. If there is no progress, spillovers cannot be ruled out. Farmers could again cut off traffic on the Toulouse ring road, as in November.