Caroline Baudry // Credits: FREDERIC SCHEIBER / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 8:26 a.m., January 26, 2024

A 42-year-old breeder, Jérôme Bayle was on the first dam in Carbonne in Occitanie. It is in this town that the first road signs were turned over and where the first blockage of the A64 took place at the initiative of the farmer, who has since become the spokesperson for the peasant anger movement. Europe 1 went to meet him.  

As is often the case during demonstration movements, figures emerge outside of traditional unions. The agricultural crisis that the country has been experiencing for several weeks is no exception to this rule. Jérôme Bayle was on the first dam at Carbonne in Occitanie. This 42-year-old breeder was behind the first blockade of the A64. The man became the spokesperson for the anger of his colleagues. 

In the crowd, Jérôme Bayle is recognizable thanks to his cap, always aimed on his head, and his imposing build. The bearded colossus knows the agricultural malaise better than anyone. His father committed suicide on the family farm and his mother receives 217 euros per month in retirement. Today, the former rugby player earns no income from his 160 hectares and 90 Limousin cows. When the FDSEA wanted to put an end to the demonstrations, its blood boiled. "I would hold my head high. We have to tell people that in France two farmers commit suicide every day. I don't know which profession or which administration would accept that," he told Europe 1. 

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A profession “out of the loop” 

To raise awareness among the French about the condition of farmers in France, Jérôme Bayle asked his colleagues to open their farms. An initiative designed to re-establish the truth about a profession that has “gone out of the loop”, he says. Jérôme Bayle is nostalgic for the time when farmers were mayors in the villages. Today, the breeder's frankness unites. Solidarity donations transform tables into banquets. A struggle, a story that he will perhaps tell in a book, he says, in homage to his father.