France: the return of the Agricultural Show turned upside down by the war in Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron at the opening of the 58th Agricultural Show in Paris on February 26, 2022. AP - Ludovic Marin

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The 58th Paris Agricultural Show closed its doors this Sunday evening.

It ended with a "Béarnaise transhumance" of more than 2,000 sheep on the Champs-Elysées.

After a blank year due to the pandemic, the reunion was disrupted by the war in Ukraine.

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“ 

This war will last

 ” and “ 

We must prepare for it

 ”.

These words from Emmanuel Macron during his express visit on the opening day of the Salon de l'Agriculture set the tone and darkened the reunion.

The conflict is already driving up prices, particularly of cereals.

Something to worry pig and poultry farmers.

Feeding the animals will indeed cost them more. 

Field crop producers jumped at the chance to question the new version of the common agricultural policy.

They ask in particular not to be obliged to leave 4% of the land fallow. 

Price increase

Beyond breeders, the sector is more generally concerned about the impact on the price of fertilizer.

Moscow has already recommended to Russian producers to suspend their exports and the price of gas, used to make fertilizer, has also soared. 

A ray of sunshine broke through the clouds.

The annual trade negotiations resulted in an increase of around 3% in the prices paid by distributors to manufacturers, according to the government.

First increase after eight years of deflation.

That said, the main agribusiness organization was asking for double that.  

[Reportage] 2022 Bearnaise sheep in transhumance on the Champs-Elysées

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