Anger of farmers: who is David Sève, conductor of the A9 headquarters, stuck for a week in Nîmes ?

David Sève, January 30, the fifth day of occupation of the A9. MIKAËL ANISSET

He is one of the emblematic figures of the agricultural demonstrations at the start of 2024: from January 25 to February 2, David Sève, 48, "held" the occupation of the A9, a "village" ephemeral of a few hundred inhabitants created on the asphalt, at the Nîmes Ouest interchange. The "demo' of a life" for the arborist from Beaucaire, boss of the FDSEA du Gard, passionate about history and strategy games, as comfortable on a dam as on Cyril Hanouna's plateau or in his apricot trees.

"You know what, I'll surprise you, I won't look at homeless people the same way again!" Of course, he already has first came the question of announcements for the profession, the mobilization of which took a more peaceful turn last Friday. But at the time of taking stock of the agricultural demonstrations, David Sève has another, more personal reading of it

For eight days, the arborist "held", "with my lieutenants", he insists, the dam on the A9 motorway, in Nîmes. An unprecedented exercise for the boss of the FDSEA du Gard, experienced in union struggles, this time dragged into a  "jacquerie" out of the norm. On Friday, he was relieved to return home, to the island of Pilet, his "little paradise", in Beaucaire.&amp ;nbsp;He lived for a week under the Nîmes Ouest interchange bridge.

"It's a shame you didn't come sooner…" he slips, two hours after he was told "I'am coming", on the phone, this Monday, January 29, on the fourth day of the occupation of A9. Not sure we would have found it more available. Besieging a highway leaves no respite. The occupation of the A 64, the first farmers' roadblock in Carbonne, in West Occitanie, lasted ten days. This week, the blocking points have moved. That of the Nîmes Ouest interchange has become encysted: "This highway ist that of the ;#39;mass entry of fruits, vegetables and wines arriving from Spain and which are killing us, says l' farmer.

At the height of the crisis, you must be patient to meet David Sève, from Montpellier: leave the A9 at Gallargues, go up the congested N 113, go park in the parking lot of a large area to reach the Kilomètre Delta roundabout, opposite the Nîmes-Ouest entrance, and set off on foot along the deserted motorway, direction of Marseille. Below an embankment, at the junction of the A9 and the A54, David Sève has set up his "office" under a bridge.

"He is robust", says Jérôme Despey

A home “bis”, admits David Sève, in his essential sleeveless down jacket adorned with a neon yellow FNSEA, his voice rasped by a uninterrupted flow of words poured out on the megaphone and on the telephone, the man who organizes, who is consulted, who lets go or constrains, in this balancing act which allowed him to &quot ;hold" l'A9.

David Sève is "robust", that's the word that comes to Héraultais Jérôme Despey, president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Hérault, number two of the powerful FNSEA (National Federation of Farmers' Unions), the "mother house" : "He stood his ground for several days. A leader must be able to hold his troops. He was listened to and had the strength to manage an extremely complicated situation. 

Two bales of straw with a megaphone, a computer and a cardboard box of Costières de Nîmes placed on them, the "office" by David Sève was the heart of the HQ where CNews and BFM were covering the demonstrations in a loop. Annotations flourish on the wine packaging, including a squadron of words in columns, preceded by a star: the "operations& ;quot;.

"The prefect did not like Operation Cobra"

"The prefect didn’not like Cobra" (the fire at the customs office on January 26), remembers David Sève, “passionate about strategy games& quot; and by "the'story which reminds us that if the context changes, the functioning of men does not change too much". He is aware that Cobra is the name of the American offensive in the Cotentin in July 1944. There was also "Operation Edouard" , on January 31, in front of Leclerc d'Alès, and "Grizzli", "Anaconda", "Doors closed", "Amélie Poulain& ;quot;…

David Sève also writes "clope" hastily on the cardboard. A protester has just asked for resupply. "We also need to think about stewardship…"in this improvised village which received pizzas, grilled wild boar ribs, simmered a paella, cooked a pig on a spit and swallowed the burgers of world champion Joannes Richard… We are talking next to blackened vines which diffuse acrid smoke, in a ballet of tractors. "We have the impression that it's a mess, but everything is organized", assures the arborist: the "operations"& ;nbsp;like the publicized visits of the mayors with their tricolor scarves, of the Insoumis François Ruffin, of the starred chef Jérôme Nutile… There was also the unexpected and more confidential one of "guys from the cities worried about trade". 

"I was in bio, I quit because I was bankrupt"< /h2>

"My name is Sève, from the name of my job, it's an aptonym",introduces the Gardois, from a family of farmers as far back as the generations go. His mother, "Corsica", he specifies, was the wife of an operator. His wife, a former history teacher, became his partner in the EARL Mas du soleil, in Beaucaire.

Not sure that his children, Margot, 19 years old, Kelly, 16 years old and Gabriel, 12 years old follow: "I tell them to do as much as possible# 39;studies… We had catastrophic 2023 results, with a 40% increase in charges… Inflation ignited the powder. We feed people. Apart from those who care for them, who deserves to earn a living better than us ?"

With now 160 ha of apple, apricot and cherry trees, and "60 hours of work on average per week" for"1000 euros each with my wife", David Sève stopped the conversion to organic of the estate : &quot ;We do not have a pro-glyphosate postulate! I stopped because I was bankrupt. All the farmers who are here no longer want to process. If they don't, they have no harvest. Research over the last fifty years has focused on quality and taste, but not on disease resistance…"

"I had the choice between football and unionism"

"Excuse me, I have to coordinate everyone". David Sève grabs the megaphone, the telephone, and disappears for a moment. A piece of sentence filters from the exchange: "Yes, send everyone, like that, it will be spectacular!"

"Just a little intervention"... David Sève escapes again. The agricultural high school of Rodilhan which wants to get in on the action: "Kids, I don't want it, it's not a game", worries the activist. 

The conversation does not have time to resume.  "David, two strange individuals with hoods are approaching, what do we do ?&quot "Watch them, but they might be ours", smiles the Gardois, who arrived at the age of 23 in the department , after '"a project to divert the Rhône prevented me from settling down". We had to look for land elsewhere.

"Wait, I'm sorry, I have to go take the temperature"… An order comes out: &amp ;quot;Move everyone!" After an interruption, the interview resumes. Didier Sève is wary of the troops' idleness. We continue.

After a BTS in arboriculture, in Anneyron, in the Drôme, David Sève, arrives in the Gard"with the ;#39;help from the Safer. "I had football or unionism to make me some relationships, football, it's not my thing". The Young Farmers had "given a helping hand to the installation", David Sève "n'is not an ungrateful": after the JA, he joined the FDSEA du Gard, which he has chaired since seven years.

"A little angry with authority" and "not always agree" with the national strategy, he fully assumes the label of the majority union: "Yes, there are people who win their lives well, but there are also many who are dying. "The peasant confederation is with us here", he specifies.

Franz-Olivier Giesbert: "We should listen to David Sève every day"

"Davis likes people, unifying, strategic, he knows how to listen, and he led the occupation of the&#39 ;A9 masterfully, hat", salutes Patrick Viala, elected to the Chamber of Agriculture of Gard."To last a week on this highway of injustice, it makes you proud to be Gardois. He gave us a national echo, thank you!" 

"We should listen to David Sève every day"… On the CNews set, the journalist and writer Franz-Olivier Giesbert was also amazed by the intervention of the farmer, since the Toulouse demonstration on January 16. His tireless tirade on "the increase in diabolical charges", the parallel with the industrial collapse of France in the 80s, his "Who Would Accept That ?" hit the mark. "David Sève, we love you!" is enthusiastic FOG.

A year earlier, the farmer had also done the "job" on the sometimes slippery plateau of TPMP. "I think the cursor is not in the right place between economy and ecology", suggests Cyril Hanouna. David Sève reframes : "Me, I don'economy and'ecology". And to regret the clichés conveyed in the media, "my grandfather's agriculture!" "It's over, the time when it was the stupidest in the family who took over the farm", he insists -il.

"I had better speak up"

"I salute David's passion, his energy, his commitment, his will, his involvement in the agricultural world. You have to be courageous today to take responsibility…" confides, "measuring my words& quot;, Magali Saumade, president of the Gard Chamber of Agriculture.

David Sève also chooses his own: "You have to be very careful. The world has changed. Before, whoever rode on the straw bale was right. I am one of the last union officials who was not attacked. Jérôme Bayle, who held the A64 blockade for a month is being done today ;#39;hui lynching on the networks. 

"I asked myself what I would say to calm the troops if, during his first intervention, Gabriel Attal announced anything", remembers the farmer. "I knew people would go crazy! It was in my interest to speak correctly. What saves me is that people can identify with me, I am like them, I have remained very simple. I know that life quickly takes back what it gave", assures the activist. Thursday evening, while a consecutive release When new government announcements were taking shape, he received a standing ovation on the A9.

"He's a real farmer, who fights every day, who prunes his trees and who does his harvests, his markets…&amp ;nbsp;He is one of those characters, the silent ones, who are real people. We need people like that, committed and responsible", greets Juan Martinez, mayor of Bellegarde, president of the Beaucaire Terre d'Argence community of communes.

Under this dark bridge of the A9, David sap gave voice and took the light. "I was even offered a position on a list in the European elections", he laughs. He took the key to the fields. Since Friday, he has also dropped his megaphone. 

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