The A9 occupied for 8 days in Nîmes by Gard farmers: what to remember from this mobilization ?

Les agriculteurs gardois ont libéré l'A9, ce vendredi matin. Midi Libre – M.A.

Les derniers tracteurs des agriculteurs ont quitté le bitume de l'autoroute A9 à Nîmes Ouest, ce vendredi 2 février. Pendant huit jours et neuf nuits, les manifestants gardois ont occupé l'autoroute. Le point sur ce mouvement historique.

This Friday morning, all that remained was the remains of a fireplace, ashes and an old sofa abandoned on one of the lanes of the A9 motorway, in Nîmes West . The demonstrators evacuated the scene and returned the highway to Vinci. The lanes between Gallargues and Nîmes were reopened to traffic in the evening.  
After eight days and nine nights of intense mobilization and « historical », in Gard, a delegation of unions was to be received by the Minister of Agriculture Marc Fesneau, late in the evening, at the prefecture.< /p>

"We can be proud… There were no overflows. The unit today is the Gardoise unit"

Led by the FDSEA of Gard and the entire team of David Sève, its president, this unprecedented revolt brought together « peasants » coming from the Cévennes, the Bagnols-sur-Cèze region, the Beaucaire plain, Sommières, Costières… The Gardois positioned at the Nîmes West access therefore blocked access to the A9. This caused massive congestion across the entire departmental network. Never seen before in Languedoc-Roussillon.
From Cévenol, Frédéric Cavagna, secretary general of the FDSEA and head of the wine commission, was one of the last farmers present on the A9 site. It highlights a movement that made « the unit » in the department. « We were able to mobilize and make our specificities heard, assures the secretary general of the FDSEA. In the Gard department, farmers have proven to everyone that when we talk to each other, when we explain, we create unity. And we made no mistake. Today, we can be proud… hellip; The unit is the Gard unit. Both the Cévenols and the Camargues. It warmed my heart. »

The latest announcements from the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal and the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, in recent days, on aid of 80 M€ and a grubbing premium of 150 million euros; to support wine growers, the Mercosur treaty which would therefore not be validated, the strengthening of the Egalim… ended up convincing the FNSEA, at the national level. The Gardois, for their part, were keen to highlight and preserve Mediterranean cultures and these southern farms whose concerns are far removed from those of large cereal farms in other regions. « We tried to defend our uniqueness, the Gard cultures, comments Patrick Viala (Welcome to the farm and the Farmers' Mas in Nîmes). Sometimes the devil is in the details. You have to see…»,  worries the Gardois

Organic farmers who have taken the full brunt of the crisis

Farmers who work organically today have taken the full brunt of this crisis. « The organic problem is an economic problem. These colleagues who are involved in this organic sector, we must help them, agrees Frédéric Cavagna.We will have to work to find other funding to help them and get through this crisis. It is still the government and society that have pushed us to move towards greener agriculture. I defend general agriculture, we need to stop pitting ourselves against each other, the organic, the conventional… hellip; . Today, we need to rethink a lot of things. There is the organic crisis but it is also economic. When the French lose purchasing power, unfortunately, it is organic that is affected. Whether in viticulture, fruit and vegetables. I have been sounding the alarm for years. Organic colleagues were already in crisis and I told them: already be careful. »
Yesterday evening, all the agricultural unions were invited to a meeting, at the prefecture, with the Minister of Agriculture.

An Ecophyto “break” that goes badly

The Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau announced the freezing of the Ecophyto 2030 plan aimed at reducing the use of pesticides in agricultural practices. This plan was to be unveiled in January and provided for a drastic reduction in the use of pesticides.
« This decision is shameful, protests Didier Marion (Peasant Confederation). At with exposure to pesticides, I lost friends…hell. I can't hear this speech anymore. The other announcements are smoke and mirrors. They announced that the Mercosur agreement would not be signed. But France has already signed agreements with countries like Chile." The confederation demands an income for farmers that decently remunerates the work of agricultural production.« It should be illegal to sell at a loss. The Peasant Confederation has always said that the minimum price must cover the cost price, recalls the activist.