The so-called “siege of Paris,” which has seen angry farmers block highways around the French capital, is a far cry from the violent “Gilets Jaunes” protests that erupted in 2018 over French President Emmanuel Macron’s reform agenda. About 15,000 gendarmes and police officers have been deployed to ensure the city, the host of this summer’s Olympic Games, gets fed. Yet judging by the chaotic search for a scapegoat, from free trade to the energy transition, the omens are not good for a lasting solution.
Even after a string of concessions by Macron’s new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, including a pledge to reverse a plan to raise taxes on farming fuel and a fresh show of opposition from Macron to a free-trade deal with the South American Mercosur bloc, the tractors have not trundled home. That should raise eyebrows considering France treats its farmers pretty well on paper: Agricultural subsidies are the biggest line item in the EU budget, and France is their biggest recipient by country — equivalent to 9.5 billion euros (US$10.25 billion) in 2022. That year, the average farmer’s salary was about 50,000 euros — an above-middle-class wage, albeit one that masks a lot of disparities — government data show.
We might be witnessing residual rage following the wartime spike in inflation from farm gates to dinner plates. Consumer prices are cooling now, but the timing of these protests suggests the lopsidedness of price increases since the invasion of Ukraine is being felt unequally. Farmers say they are squeezed between higher input costs and the negotiating power of big retail chains — themselves under political pressure after a 29 percent rise in EU food prices since January 2021. Consumer behavior has changed and maybe not to farmers’ benefit: While a majority of domestic poll respondents support the protests, a majority also cut back on food last year — especially the feel-good organic kind.
The search for a culprit has also prompted politicians to point a finger at the ambitious energy transition piloted from Brussels. After all, we have seen other European countries face angry farmers — the Netherlands even saw them go into politics and win big in provincial elections — and common complaints include heightened competition from abroad and increased environmental rules at home. So-called “From Farm to Fork” targets include halving the use of pesticides, cutting fertilizer use and doubling organic farmland by 2030 — which critics say means less food security, fewer farms and higher prices for consumers. Attal has criticized Greens and Socialists for having treated farmers like “polluters,” while French politician Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party wants to stop the Green Deal.
This looks a little convenient. Yes, the recent inflation shock should push leaders and officials to take a fresh look at the pace and cost of decarbonization, including farm to fork. Logic dictates that a plan that impoverishes or punishes farmers makes no sense; neither does a plan that expects consumers to pay the upfront cost of lower-emissions agriculture.
However, common sense also suggests that a political preference for the “status quo” is not going to help either: Agricultural emissions have barely budged as a share of the total since the turn of the century, and climate change could also threaten food security. These are difficult trade-offs, but investing in innovation to deliver productivity growth without worsening environmental harm is one answer, said Alan Matthews, a professor emeritus of European agricultural policy at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Reforming EU subsidies to make them more efficient is another answer.
Perhaps what Macron should really be focusing on is tapping into the frustrations against French red tape that his own election in 2017 capitalized on. French domestic laws designed to take into account production costs to ensure farmers are not selling at a loss are not working as planned. French agriculture’s marketing strategy is upmarket, but the result is meat that is 30 percent more expensive than elsewhere in the EU and shopping baskets that are less affordable for those on minimum wage, said Philippe Goetzmann, a former executive of French supermarket chain Auchan.
Several countries, including Spain, saw their agricultural labor productivity improve last year, thanks to the higher price of olive oil and the declining cost of fertilizer; its economy outperformed that of France in the fourth quarter. Beyond global inflation and European regulation, it is time to look again at France’s national exceptionalism.
Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist writing about the future of money and the future of Europe. Previously, he was a reporter for Reuters and Forbes. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
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