The Aveyron section of the Peasant Confederation has prepared for its return to school

Le comité aveyronnais s'est réuni non loin du Céor. Centre Presse – Ph. R.

Le syndicat agricole donne les perspectives de ses luttes pour l'année 2024 et n'épargne pas la FNSEA.

It was in Caplongue, in the heart of Lévézou, in the commune of Arvieu, that the Peasant Confederation carried out its back-to-school work. The beginnings of a lively (new) year, particularly in the run-up to the elections to the Chamber of Agriculture which will take place in January 2025. A subject which is also causing an initial tension, with the reduction in funding minority unions. "We cannot say that this promotes union pluralism", breathes Sascha Vue, the spokesperson for the Conf’, denouncing a strategy aimed at extinguishing the minority movement.

But this choice of Caplongue is not a coincidence. Nearby is the Céor River, which could be used to create a new water retention basin. "A subject on which we are very vigilant. We want to see what size and for what crops,” says an elected official from the Peasant Confederation soberly.

"The problem is not non-road diesel"

A union which also closely observed the FNSEA union action with the municipal signs turned over. "This reflects peasant unhappiness and we completely agree on the subject, but the reasons given for this action are not the right ones. The problem is not the increase in GNR (non-road diesel). No, the real problem for us producers is getting paid for what we produce. Guarantee our income."

And suffice to say that the recent free trade agreement between New Zealand and the European Union is not well received. "There, we are walking on our heads. And the FNSEA supported this project. In the majority union, there is a double discourse that we do not understand, says Sascha Vue, within a Peasant Confederation which is also fighting over the price of organic milk with Roquefort; which also joins the FDSEA on the fight against ground-based photovoltaics. "There are enough roofs everywhere to develop the energy we need. We must once again stop with this double talk coming from the FNSEA."

Big concern about bees

On this back-to-school day, however, a big issue worried the members of the Peasant Confederation: the mortality of bees in hives. "It’is linked to the treatment of FCO which was important this year in Aveyron. We sounded the alarm, calling not to repeat the same mistakes as ten years ago. There will be unpleasant surprises. We, in organic farming, started to open hives… Some are empty. And there are no dead bees. With insecticides used to treat FCO, bees do not find the hives. Just like ten years ago." A concern to which is added that of low-priced honey imports, which are damaging the prospects of professional beekeepers. « Here too, we are being told about food sovereignty, and France accepts the opposite."

Suffice to say that the Aveyron branch of the Confédération paysanne will indeed be on the ground throughout the year. With the desire to denounce these forms of contrary injunctions which plunge the countryside into a certain gloom.

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