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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

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French farmers are in focus after blocking highways around Paris with their tractors as part of nationwide protests demanding better pay and living conditions.

Farmers in France, the European Union’s biggest agricultural producer, have complained of unfair competition from rivals in more lightly regulated countries.

Over the last week, they have set up roadblocks on motorways to highlight their cause. They have also damaged property, including local government offices.

In Longvilliers, southwest of Paris, Reuters footage showed tractors blocking the A10 highway both to and from the capital, with traffic diverted to smaller roads.

French farmers block the A64 highway with their tractors to protest over price pressures, taxes and green regulation in Carbonne, south of Toulouse, France. REUTERS/Nacho Doce

The French government dropped plans to gradually reduce state subsidies on agricultural diesel but that has not satisfied the protesting farmers.

After two weeks of protests that have spread across France, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced a series of measures to ease financial and administrative pressure on farmers.

He said a plan to phase out state support on diesel would be scrapped, red tape simplified, and an appeal lodged with the European Union for a waiver on bloc-wide rules on fallow land.

But Arnaud Rousseau, head of FNSEA, France’s biggest farming union, told French TV station TF1: “We have decided to pursue our movement. The prime minister had not responded to all of our questions.”

“We will stop this Kafka-esque system,” said Attal, 34, criticizing the EU rules and responding to the first big crisis of his premiership. “We will stop this planned trajectory of increasing tax on non-road diesel fuel.”

Attal also announced a raft of other steps designed to quell the unrest that has seen farmers spray manure over a public building and supermarket, dump hay bales in highways and empty the contents of trucks carrying fresh produce from neighboring countries.

France would remain opposed to signing the Mercosur free-trade deal, which farmers say will flood the country with cheaper Latin American meat and produce, he said.

France will also push to ease European Union rules forcing farmers to leave some of their land fallow.

Farmers must meet certain conditions to receive EU subsidies – including a requirement to devote 4% of farmland to “non-productive” areas where nature can recover. That can be done by leaving land lying fallow.

Two EU officials told Reuters the EU’s executive Commission was looking into changing the fallow land rule, as requested by France, among other options to respond to the farmers’ concerns.

France’s protests follow similar action in other European countries, including Germany  and Poland, ahead of European elections in which the far right, for whom farmers represent a growing constituency, is seen making gains.

In Brussels too, traffic on the ring road around the Belgian capital was disrupted by angry farmers and about a dozen tractors made it through to Square de Meeus in Brussels’ EU area where they honked loudly.

Angry farmers stopped about five trucks with Spanish vegetables and dumped the produce near the distribution center of Belgian retailer Colruyt near Brussels, Belgian media reported.

Greta Thunberg attends The March for Climate and Justice to demand political change before the elections in Amsterdam, Netherlands. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

Juliette Tronchon, senior policy and public affairs specialist at non-profit ProVeg International, shares her thoughts on centering the voices of farmers from the global south:

“Making the world’s food system healthier, more balanced, and better for the planet requires delving below surface-level discussions about who produces greenhouse gasses and how innovation in animal agriculture can reduce emissions.

“To affect real change, we need to listen to the people who are most deeply connected to the food system, namely farmers and those living in the global south.

“Farmers, the backbone of food production, have first-hand experience of how agricultural practices impact the environment and people’s livelihoods.

“They hold invaluable knowledge about the complexities and trade-offs associated with different agricultural methods.

“Listening to their perspectives not only allows us to better understand the challenges the current global food system presents but also could reveal more sustainable pathways.

“Moreover, the perspectives of those in the global south, often disproportionately affected by climate change and industrial practices, are vital. Their lived experiences illustrate the disparities and vulnerabilities inherent in the food system and the urgency of implementing equitable solutions.

“It’s a big change in thinking, but if we focus on their stories, we can fix the food system in a way that’s fairer, kinder, and helps the earth too.”

An effort by Republican U.S. lawmakers to reallocate $18 billion in climate-friendly agriculture funding under President Joe Biden’s signature climate law would shift money away from programs that primarily benefit farmers in Republican-leaning states, a Reuters analysis found.

The Inflation Reduction Act money, earmarked for U.S. Department of Agriculture-designated “climate-smart” farm practices, is intended to support Biden’s agriculture climate agenda, which relies heavily on storing carbon in the soil and lowering emissions through sustainable farming techniques.

A man checks coffee fruits at the hydrographic basin of the Panama Canal, as part of a project by the Authority of the Panama Canal, in Ciricito, Capira, Panama. REUTERS/Aris Martinez

A program for coffee farmers in Panama aimed at slowing down environmental damage takes today’s spotlight.

Farmers who have planted scores of trees near the country’s namesake canal also seek to benefit the key global waterway, which has recently suffered from major drought that has crimped the flow of trade.

The 15-year-old program aims to slow the accumulated environmental damage, including soil erosion and the contamination of local rivers, that have contributed to the canal’s falling water levels.

At the same time, it allows farmers to expand their plantings and even access higher prices for the robusta beans they produce.

To date, the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has spent $32 million on the program, which is used to train coffee farmers to adopt more environmentally friendly methods as well as help them access certifications that offer a premium for their beans.

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