This 60th edition of the major agricultural meeting was marked from its opening by the rowdy visit of the Head of State, marked by boos and clashes of rare intensity. In the midst of a crisis in the sector, the 2024 Agricultural Show, which closes its doors on the evening of Sunday March 3, welcomed 603,652 visitors, its organizers announced after eight days of opening to the general public.
Attendance is down slightly (? 2%) compared to last year, when 615,204 visitors were recorded. The president of the Show, Jean-Luc Poulain, spoke of a “complicated edition, especially at the start of the show”, but also a popular festival always popular with the public, who “came in large numbers” to meet the farmers.
He estimates the drop in attendance on the first two days at “around 20%”, but assures that the entry figures on the following days were better than last year, with more than 100,000 visitors on the second Saturday. But if, at the start of the week, certain exhibitors complained about a shortfall in earnings, these grievances “are extinguished today”: “I think they also made up for it during the week,” reported Mr. Poulain, cereal farmer in Oise, who chaired the event for the last time.
The National Federation of Farmers’ Unions (FNSEA), the main agricultural union, for its part regretted “a missed meeting” with the executive during the Show, due to lack of a clear “strategy”, and warns that the “actions on the ground” will continue. “We will continue to have actions on the ground” after the event, because “on the political level things are clearly not finished”, declared Sunday morning the president of the union, Arnaud Rousseau, on BFM-TV.
The embers of anger still “burning”
After the government’s promises, farmers expect “very concrete achievements” on their farms, and even if the FNSEA does not call for national mobilization, “each department retains the initiative to be able to take a certain number of actions” , he explained. “The embers are hot”, “nothing is finished”, underlined the union leader, who deplored a “more than chaotic” start to the Salon.
“We consider that we missed an appointment. We expected from the President of the Republic a strategy and the definition of a course for agriculture,” Jérome Despey, first vice-president of the union, added to Agence France-Presse. While he welcomes Emmanuel Macron’s commitment to recognizing agriculture “as a major general interest of the nation”, he regrets a political message muddled by “verbal jousting and clumsiness” and a lack of consideration for ” intermediate bodies”.
When the Elysée, on the eve of the show, announced a major debate for which it was – briefly – considered inviting the environmentalist collective of the Uprisings of the Earth, it was for the union “provocation” too much – leading to the complete cancellation of the debate the day before the head of state’s visit, Saturday February 24.
And if the union says it has taken note of the government’s numerous announcements, “many of which go in the right direction”, it expects “precise elements” on simplification and competitiveness, before the expected presentation at the end of March of a major law on agricultural orientation. But certain announcements “are not very clear”, particularly in terms of simplification, said Mr. Rousseau.
Mr. Despey also mentions the need for progress on the issue of pensions, the variation of simplification for hedges… But also a great reason for satisfaction: “Many visitors came to give us their support. I have never seen such support from our fellow citizens,” hailing the role of the Agricultural Show as a link between cities and countryside.
Ground for confrontation ahead of the European elections
Asked about the reflection that the organizers of the event want to carry out on the reception of politicians, the president of the Salon recalled on Sunday that it was “a private salon”: “We come by invitation or we buy our ticket, but this It is not because we are a politician that we are on conquered territory and that we must demand everything from the Salon. »
Referring to the disrupted visit of Emmanuel Macron, which delayed the opening of the event to the public – even if it was ultimately able to take place and last thirteen hours – Mr. Poulain tempered, declaring that “this created a stir , but if the president had not come here, it would have [taken place during the visit] of the prime minister. If the Prime Minister had not come either, it would have been the Minister of Agriculture.” Before adding: “I thank the president (…). There, we cleared the liability in four to five hours, because everything crystallized on him. And anyway, this anger had to come out. »
In addition to Emmanuel Macron’s visit, the ministers of ecological transition and agriculture, Christophe Béchu and Marc Fesneau, were the target of egg throwing and whistles on Friday March 1, forcing them to cut short their visit.
An unmissable political event, the Agricultural Show was also a site of political confrontation between the presidential camp and the National Rally in view of the European elections in June.
