Daily on Energy: Why French farmers are blocking off roads to Paris
World,Agriculture,Europe,France,Farmers,Environment,Regulations,European Union
French farmers used tractors, tires, and manure to block off eight major roads to Paris and showcase their displeasure with planned European Union regulations on the farming sector, which they argue could cripple their industry and push business into other, less-efficient parts of the world.
Why they’re protesting: Like others in the bloc, French farmers say the new EU environmental regulations will drive up costs for farmers and push production down, driving what they argue could be the final stake into the heart of France’s farming industry, which shrunk by 21%—or 100,000 businesses—between 2010 and 2020 alone.
Among other things, the European Commission’s new regulations require French farmers to set aside 4% of their farmland for so-called “non-productive” purposes– to give land time to recover, or “fallow”—in order to qualify for bloc-wide subsidies. That’s in line with the EU’s proposed nature restoration law, a 2023 effort to restore roughly 20% of the bloc’s land and sea areas by the end of the decade.
