France's farmers are angry. They say they're being strangled by a toxic combination of red tape, trade deals, unrealistic prices and ecological measures. Witness joins them as they head towards blockades in Paris.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 [French newsreel]
00:02 France remains the first agricultural producer in Europe,
00:04 but its farmers denounce their working conditions.
00:07 They have reversed the traffic signs with this slogan
00:10 "We walk on our heads".
00:12 30 years ago, they were 5 million,
00:15 against 400,000 today.
00:16 We even want to say to ourselves
00:20 "Who will feed us tomorrow?"
00:22 because we are not sure we are still there.
00:24 Key words of anger
00:26 Free trade
00:27 Open markets
00:28 Green pact
00:29 Bureaucracy
00:30 It's a general fatigue
00:32 on a very heavy mental load.
00:35 What are the reasons for such anger
00:44 and such mobilization?
00:45 This is what I tell you in Witness.
00:47 Flora's farming has no sheep.
00:54 Everybody goes in here.
00:57 Her job is in danger.
00:59 The European Union has just signed a free trade agreement
01:02 with New Zealand
01:03 which allows the importation of sheep
01:05 for half of its value in France.
01:07 We will find in the shops
01:10 which are all around
01:11 sheep from New Zealand
01:13 which will have done 18,000 km.
01:14 We are talking about ecology.
01:16 And it affects our neighbors
01:18 Germans,
01:20 Greeks, Spaniards.
01:22 It really affects many, many countries around.
01:24 It's not for nothing.
01:26 So when
01:29 the re-imposition
01:30 and the retreat
01:32 why don't we want to question ourselves?
01:34 We question ourselves every day
01:35 about our farms.
01:36 The application of the European Green Pact
01:39 a set of standards in favor of the ecological transition
01:42 is at the heart of the agricultural anger.
01:44 Xavier, who is a farmer and a cereal farmer
01:47 is preparing to block Paris.
01:49 There are some traitors who have entered Paris
01:53 and what they want is support on the outskirts of Paris.
01:56 I like to protest but I also like my little comfort.
01:59 So possibly
02:00 I don't really want to sleep
02:02 at the star of that time.
02:04 So we will take everything we need.
02:06 For Xavier, it is impossible to leave the farm alone.
02:09 He will therefore call on the former owner,
02:11 his father.
02:12 You
02:14 you will leave it for three days?
02:16 Three days?
02:17 Until Thursday, yes.
02:18 Thursday evening.
02:19 Do you think they will let you drive like that?
02:22 [dog barking]
02:23 Do you have the keys?
02:27 Yes, I have the keys.
02:28 Did you send a photo?
02:29 Not yet.
02:30 I'm happy to have the support
02:33 despite everything.
02:36 To consider.
02:37 Yes, yes.
02:38 In order to pay the salary of a worker
02:41 young farmers often use their relatives.
02:44 I've been retired for 12 years.
02:46 I can't stop coming to see the farm.
02:50 I've been working here for 40 years.
02:53 It's an obligation for me.
02:56 I'm very proud because before,
02:58 as an engineer, I worked in the private sector.
03:01 And she left everything behind
03:03 to take over the farm
03:05 to take over her sheep.
03:07 Yes, I'm very proud.
03:09 Are you worried about her too?
03:11 What?
03:12 Are you worried about her too?
03:13 Very.
03:14 Because we had to be careful.
03:15 At the time we were there,
03:17 we had to be careful to get in.
03:19 We had to take the combines we didn't learn at school.
03:21 And they taught us things
03:23 we didn't learn at school.
03:25 She doesn't want to.
03:27 Damn it.
03:28 Wait.
03:29 The problem is that what we sell,
03:35 we sell it.
03:36 We buy a kilo of sheep for 30 euros.
03:39 We sell it at 8.
03:41 It's too much.
03:42 It's too much, that's for sure.
03:44 It's obvious.
03:45 Yes.
03:46 Of course, if we could reap the fruits of our labor
03:49 and be able to improve the working conditions,
03:52 the working conditions,
03:54 in the first place,
03:55 we would be even more isolated.
03:57 I remember when I was little,
04:00 there were other farms in the neighborhood
04:03 and I always saw you
04:04 call me and say, "Come and visit."
04:07 But now it doesn't exist anymore.
04:09 Much less.
04:10 And there's no one, right?
04:14 Xavier is ready to join one of the 120 blockade points.
04:17 Nearly 6,000 tractors, including Xavier's,
04:22 will be mobilized in the days to come.
04:24 They will mark the strongest of the mobilization,
04:27 supported by 8 French out of 10.
04:29 What we feel about this one compared to before
04:34 is the support,
04:35 the support of the fellow citizens,
04:38 of our neighbors.
04:40 [train horn]
04:45 At first, it was a European problem,
04:48 but France, the French state,
04:50 adds problems to it.
04:52 It hides behind a Europe
04:54 by saying it's Europe the problem,
04:56 but I think it's happy to add more
04:59 and to support us with a system called "AID"
05:02 so that we can shut up.
05:04 And now I think it's over.
05:08 The goal is to get together more and more
05:10 and to influence Paris together.
05:12 In numbers.
05:14 Europe first protected farmers,
05:19 but in 1992, with the Common Agriculture Policy,
05:22 it aligned their prices with those of the global market
05:25 and set up a compensation system
05:27 that keeps their heads out of the water.
05:30 Xavier's father is also aware of the current situation.
05:34 It's a satisfaction.
05:36 We see our son keep growing.
05:39 We see him evolve.
05:41 It's good.
05:43 We've had crises in terms of income.
05:47 It's not new.
05:49 The worst is the administrative constraints,
05:52 the regulations.
05:54 It's like sleeping on your feet.
05:56 You have to walk on your head because there are things to do.
05:59 Before joining the blockade,
06:01 Flora has to take on administrative tasks
06:04 that take up to an hour of her time a day.
06:07 This is traceability,
06:09 the tracking of births.
06:11 These are things that will always accumulate,
06:14 that repeat themselves,
06:16 that still need to be provided by the administration.
06:20 Or it hasn't been taken care of,
06:22 so we have to send another document.
06:24 It's the daily work of farmers.
06:26 I asked Flora what she thought of ecology.
06:29 How can we work with living things
06:32 while being against ecology?
06:35 It's like shooting yourself in the foot.
06:37 It's easy politically to go up against each other.
06:41 But there's no such thing as ecology and agriculture.
06:45 Not at all.
06:47 And there's even water.
06:54 Water with the heater.
06:56 Please.
06:57 We can have a seat.
06:59 They won't kick us out.
07:02 Facing pressure in the Paris region,
07:05 the government is planning new announcements.
07:08 Farmers are getting together to keep the count.
07:11 I'm in the car.
07:13 I joined the convoy in the middle of the afternoon.
07:17 I'm in my teens at the moment.
07:20 I left my sheep temporarily for a few hours
07:24 to join the movement.
07:26 It's important to me to be here
07:28 and to continue to support the people.
07:31 It was long, but we got there.
07:39 Now we just have to stay.
07:42 We'll try to stay until they announce something.
07:48 Beyond a promise of administrative simplification,
07:52 the government is committed to reducing pesticides,
07:55 to maintaining tax cuts on GNR,
07:58 the farmers' fuel,
08:00 and to not want the European Free Trade Treaty
08:03 with Latin America, the MERCOSUR.
08:06 The main agricultural unions decide to leave
08:09 on the third day of the blockade.
08:11 We're leaving.
08:13 We'll leave a little memento.
08:19 On their last position,
08:22 it's impossible to reach Xavier.
08:25 We called him 400 metres away.
08:28 The state of mind is...
08:30 it's mixed.
08:32 It's not calmer.
08:34 It's mixed.
08:36 For me, the last announcements,
08:39 the tone of voice was completely different.
08:42 The will to work was much more...
08:45 it was much more demonstrative
08:47 on the will to work with the profession
08:50 I want to tell the farmers this morning
08:53 that with my ministers, we want to move forward for them
08:56 and we'll announce new measures.
08:58 Escort them.
09:00 So they don't go left.
09:02 We'll call them.
09:04 Have a good trip, Xavier.
09:06 The government will continue to multiply the announcements.
09:09 The farmers lift the blockades, but do not lower their guard.
09:12 We'll wait for the new announcements again,
09:15 but honestly, there's disappointment.
09:18 There's disappointment in the group.
09:21 It's a political story, a big-money story.
09:24 That's what's happening.
09:27 We're not weighing, okay,
09:30 but it means that a handful are leading the world
09:33 at their mercy and imposing a model.
09:36 Everyone must follow. We're not sheep.
09:39 That's it.
09:41 It's disgusting.
09:44 [grunting]
09:46 [grunting]
09:49 [♪♪♪]
09:53 [♪♪♪]
09:56 (dramatic music)