Speculation mounts on Macron's welcome at the politically charged Salon de l'Agriculture

The annual Salon de l'Agriculture has long been a political minefield for politicicans, as French farmers, cultivators and wine-growers showcase the best of the country's produce. As the expo gets underway this weekend, observers speculate that President Emmanuel Macron may be accorded a more positive welcome at the gathering than in previous years. 

Emmanuel Macron at the Salon de l'Agriculture on February 22, 2020 Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

Relations between Emmanuel Macron and farmers got off to a rocky start at the beginning of his mandate in 2017, before becoming positively cordial by 2022 as his first five-year term comes to an end.

According to Bruno Dufayet, president of the National Bovine Federation, "the head of state will not be entering a hostile environment" when he arrives at the Salon de l'Agriculture this Saturday.

The relationship between the president and agrarian circles represented by the FNSEA famers union has significantly improved over the past five years, especially since the arrival of Julien Denormandie as Minister for Agriculture in July 2020.

Denormandie's appointment has been globally welcomed by farmers as he "knows how to talk to them and adopt the words they want to hear", remarks the sociologist François Purseigle. 

The researcher sees in Julien Denormandie "a trump card in Macron's game, setting in place a strategy of conquest" when it comes to the agrarian electorate. 

In 2017, relations between the city-slicker Macron and the farming community got off to a poor start, marred by mistrust. 

According to Dominique Chargé, who defends the interests of France's 2,200 agricultural cooperatives, Macron kicked-off his first term in office with "very anxiety-provoking themes for farmers," specifically the president's desire to ban glyphosate, the weedkiller that's as controversial as it is effective, within three years.

In the end, France only restricted the use of the herbicide. 

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 The president's 'lessons'

A majority of the farming community in France didn't appreciated the presence of ecologist Nicolas Hulot in 2017.

At another outing, this time to the Rungis market Macron told farmers: "We must collectively rethink a new agricultural France" and suggested that French producers "stop the production of poultry or pork, which no longer corresponds to our tastes and needs".

FNSEA president Christiane Lambert, herself a pig farmer, admits that she found it difficult to accept the president's "lessons".

« Que défendent vraiment les distributeurs ac leur guerre du prix le -cher ? Leur part de marché!Cette stratégie, censée préserver le pouvoir d’achat est 1 échec : il n’y a jamais eu autant de personnes précaires! Ns proposons la création d’1chèque alimentaire»#Presidentielle2022 pic.twitter.com/pSUTrIgp8F

— La FNSEA (@FNSEA) February 24, 2022

Farmers disliked Macron's "double speak" at a time when they were facing competition from countries with less stringent health and environmental standards flooding the market.

Specifically when French members of parliament were pushing through the free trade treaty between Europe and Canada back in 2019. 

On the day CETA was signed, Greta Thunberg was received at the National Assembly to press for a greener environment, which farmers perceive as politically incoherent. 

Farmers are generally grateful to the government for trying to improve their income through the Egalim and Egalim 2 laws.

They are also grateful to the government for allowing sugar beet growers to use insecticides that are harmful to bees against an aphid that threatens production.

Not everyone is happy

However, the left-wing Confédération Paysanne, once headed by the iconic José Bové, has drawn a completely negative assessment of Macron's approach.

According to the union that opposes intensive farming: "The speech that Emmanuel Macron made at Rungis seemed to lay the foundations for a rethink of the agricultural model. Five years later, we feel like we've been taken for a ride."

The Conféderation laments that France will just continue to use chemical products to produce more for less, to be competitive with other countries in the world.