In front of the prefecture, the farmers, meeting at the call of the Departmental Federation of Farmers' Unions (FDSEA) and the Young Farmers (JA), dumped the contents of several trailers filled with waste, which they covered with straw before setting it on fire.
The Sarthe JAs are waiting "for the State to assume its responsibilities so that trade negotiations take place under good conditions. Controls must be carried out urgently and practices contrary to the EGalim 2 law must be sanctioned", said know the agricultural unions in a press release.
Farmers fix a banner to the gates of the Sarthe prefecture in Le Mans, on February 15, 2022, during a demonstration to demand better prices for their production JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP
Adopted in 2018, the EGalim law is the result of the Estates General on Food launched in 2017. It has several objectives, including that of remunerating producers correctly.
However, the latter consider that this objective has not been achieved because their production costs, which have increased significantly since the health crisis, are often not covered by the price at which manufacturers buy their production.
Negotiations currently underway between manufacturers, large retailers and farmers should be completed at the end of the month.
A farmer in front of a fire lit in front of the Sarthe prefecture in Le Mans, on February 15, 2022, during a demonstration to demand better prices for productions JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER AFP
After the city center, the demonstrators were to go later in the evening to several large areas of the agglomeration and dump the rest of their rubbish there as a sign of protest against the turn taken, according to them, through negotiations.
© 2022 AFP