For the Modef union, “the floor price must be remunerative… for the farmer!”

Le vigneron Xavier Fabre et l'éleveur Frédéric Mazer sur la commune de Lézan. Midi Libre – STEPHANE BARBIER

For the Modef union (1), President Macron's announcement on February 24 at the agricultural show must be heard from the side of the farmer and not the market. " And that  is nothing like a Soviet system thing" underline the winemaker Xavier Fabre and the breeder Frédéric Mazer, repeating the words of the   Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau. A measure which must be accompanied by deeper reforms such as the voting method for professional elections add the two peasants. 
(1): Movement to defend family farmers.

"Peasant ? This is the only profession in France where you don't know how much you will earn with the fruit of your work."
This February 27, in Lézan, Xavier Fabre, winemaker based in Domazan, further clarifies his thoughts. While President Macron announced the adoption of a historic demand from the Modef agricultural union concerning a floor price, the winegrower today explains ” vines for a harvest in 2024 and a sale in 2025 without knowing that this will be my remuneration because we are subject to the basic rule of supply and demand." And when this supply, wine in this case, arrives from abroad with lower production costs and more flexible environmental standards, the price per hecto becomes higher. rsquo;collapses. And the winemaker with it.

Integrate viticulture into Egalim and give meaning

"We observed this open competition by checking a Spanish tanker truck where the purchase contract was located. The wine had been purchased by Castel, a Bordeaux merchant accused of tax evasion in Switzerland, it must be done! The purchase price was 40 cents per liter. Me, below 80 cts, I don't live." 
To remedy these excesses, the winegrower then pleads to integrate viticulture within the framework of the Egalim law. "Negotiations would take place in large pools and would set a floor price with a multiplier coefficient based on the cost price to make it possible to live. This would prohibit selling at a loss, which is the case today!"
A reflection brought to the legislative level by Nupes last November, six right-wing voices blocked its adoption. "On the pretext of interventionism "denounces Frédéric Mazer, a shepherd unionized with Modef whose lambing takes up his entire day.
"The Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau told us that it was impossible but we already do it for distillation in the event of surplus production. So we're waiting to see where Macron's confusion lies because this floor price must be remunerative…hellip; for the farmer! And not the market.
 

This reversal of position in the Macronian doxa then suggests a realization: nothing is going well within the French peasantry. Which Modef considers to begin with a review of union representation, the electoral system of which operates according to a mixed and not proportional ballot. Consequently, the list which wins the most votes obtains half of the representatives of the college, to which is added the rest of the seats distributed proportionally between all the lists.
"This then gives an over-representation leading to State-FNSEA co-management, the model of which is complete, analyzes Xavier Fabre. This unionism is cut off from its base. The proof is the agreement to eliminate the tax on non-road diesel (GNR) which had been negotiated with this union. But once it came down from Paris to the peasants below, it exploded."
A lack of representativeness does not conceal the major grievance against the State: "We are capable of resilience, but what we want is a milestone! We, farmers, work with the heritage of two generations, sometimes three, while thinking about the next one. Common sense is needed in ads" designed Xavier Fabre.

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