Angry farmers: fruit and vegetables from abroad are dumped near the A7 motorway

Brussels sprouts from Belgium, chicken from Poland or even Spanish wine. During the night between Wednesday and Thursday, farmers checked and emptied foreign trucks passing on the National Route 7 (N7), near the A7 motorway junction, in Malataverne, south of Montelimar. According to France Bleu Drôme Ardèche, about fifty demonstrators threw the contents of about fifteen trucks onto the road.

The same action was carried out at the Nîmes Ouest roundabout, notes France Bleu Gard Lozère. Tons of tomatoes and clementines ended up on the road.

“We devastated cauliflower, Brussels sprouts brought from Belgium, from Germany, chicken from Poland. Meanwhile, semi-trailers with vegetables, salads, eggplants, zucchini arrived here…”, explained a winemaker from the Malatavern dam on local radio. The latter said he was impressed by “the number of foreign trucks plying our land.”

At the microphone BFMTVAnother winemaker says the trucks were stopped “with the greatest courtesy” and “everything foreign was emptied.” According to her, part of the funds was transferred to Restos du coeur. “What makes us angry is that we shouldn’t have to import food that we don’t want to produce at home,” she said.

Unfair competition

The purpose of this action is to condemn unfair competition with other European countries, the latter do not always meet the same standards as French farmers. “We manufacture to exceptional specifications. We want these characteristics, when products come from abroad, to be the same as ours. Otherwise, it’s a distortion,” the winemaker explained to BFMTV.

Farmers have been demonstrating across France for several days now, demanding, among other things, administrative simplifications, higher wages and lower environmental standards. Many roads across France are blocked by columns of tractors. This Thursday, the European Commission will bring together agricultural organizations, representatives of the agri-food sector, NGOs and experts to try to calm the anger of farmers that threatens to gain momentum.