dimanche 29 mars 2020

147- Gracias agricultor, por llenar nuestra despensa


¡GRACIAS, AGRICULTOR, POR LLENAR NUESTRA DESPENSA!

Bajo este título, José Antonio Arcos, periodista español especializado en información agrícola, centrado especialmente en España y Europa, publicaba hace unos días un elogio a los agricultores en su página web, que aconsejo a todos los que se interesan por la agricultura y la producción de alimentos.



Desde varias semanas, con la crisis actual del Covid-19, todos estamos muy sensibilizados y agradecidos de la tremenda labor de todos los cuerpos médicos, muchas veces llevada a cabo en condiciones difíciles y a veces precarias, con una increíble dedicación en esos tiempos especialmente difíciles que nos ha tocado vivir.

José Antonio Arcos ha querido recordarnos que los agricultores siguen produciendo los alimentos que necesitamos, y que gracias a su labor diaria y a pesar de la situación de confinamiento, seguimos disponiendo de alimentos de calidad, aunque la vida económica de nuestros países este casi paralizada.

Quiero unirme a este elogio, como consumidor, y también como agricultor. Gracias a todos.
Gracias igualmente a todos los trabajadores agrícolas que siguen con su dura labor en el campo a pesar de la situación tan tensa que estamos viviendo. Sin ustedes, muchas fincas estarían paradas a pesar de la buena voluntad de los agricultores.

Imagen propia

“Si podemos estar en casa durante quince días y los que vengan con la despensa llena es gracias a los agricultores. Solo gracias al sector primario – ya sean pescadores, ganaderos o agricultores – podemos luchar contra el hambre y la desesperación de una situación como la que estamos viviendo en España por el coronavirus. No hay hambre porque hay alimentos. Hay alimentos porque hay productores (agricultores, ganaderos y pescadores).

Gracias a esa labor de los hombres y mujeres de la España Vaciada*, comemos todos. La España Vaciada o Vacía, la España rural está dando vida a la España urbanita y a cada mesa en la que se pone un plato. Ellos son mis héroes.

En valor la soberanía alimentaria

Quizá ahora los millones de españoles que viven al margen de la agricultura y de los diferentes sectores de actividad del mundo agro puedan comprender el concepto de soberanía alimentaria. Estas dos palabras que durante estas semanas atrás han estado sacando a la calle los agricultores y ganaderos por toda España no están vacías de contenido.

Soberanía alimentaria significa la capacidad que tiene una nación de autoabastecerse. El mejor ejemplo lo vemos estos días en los que millones de consumidores han hecho masivamente compras de alimentos y han encontrado productos con los que llenar sus cestas. Esos productos, esos alimentos, no nacen por generación espontánea en un supermercado o en una frutería, esos alimentos sin los cuales nada sería posible los produce un agricultor. Es su creador.

Esa soberanía alimentaria tiene un significado aún más profundo en situaciones de crisis como la actual, por el coronavirus, ante hipotéticas limitaciones o cierres en frontera. La soberanía alimentaria permite que, al margen de lo que pueda ocurrir en el exterior, un país sea capaz de alimentar a su población.

Gracias agricultor y ganadero, hombres de la tierra. Gracias pescador, hombre de la mar.

Cuando salgamos de esta pandemia (COVID-19), porque seguro que entre todos juntos venceremos al virus, cuando ocurra (que ocurrirá) por favor recordad que no podemos dejar caer a nuestro sector primario que es el que nos da de comer. Es prioritario.

Aparte de que muchos ahora puedan comprender qué es la soberanía alimentaria, también entenderán porque los #AgricultoresAlLímite son un sector estratégico.

Sin agricultura, nada (‘Sine agricultura, nihil‘**). Ellos son mis héroes. Un aplauso por todos ellos”.

*La expresión España Vaciada ha cogido fuerza desde unos meses para ilustrar los efectos del éxodo rural, de la explosión demográfica y económica de las grandes urbes del país, y de la falta de recursos económicos, técnicos y tecnológicos de la que sufren cada vez más las zonas rurales, sin que aparentemente haya una voluntad política de influir sobre esa tendencia. Es también un movimiento de reivindicación de derechos para esas regiones inmensas, imprescindibles a la soberanía alimentaria del país, y abandonadas por los gobiernos sucesivos.
** "Sine agricultura, nihil" es el lema en latín del cuerpo de los ingenieros agrónomos españoles.


Esta crisis podría ser el revelador de las políticas inadecuadas de las últimas décadas, que han visto el tejido industrial, artesanal y agrícola modificarse profundamente en los países industrializados.
Los mercados de los países ricos se han convertido en un gran campo de batalla de precios, abocando muchas actividades y empresas de los sectores primario y segundario a desaparecer o a buscar suerte en países donde los costes son mucho más baratos, aunque mucho más lejanos.
En el mismo tiempo, por motivos que ya he explicado en varios artículos, la población urbana ha perdido el contacto con su agricultura y ya no sabe lo que es el trabajo del campo, lo exigente que es, los riesgos que tiene que soportar el sector de producción para que todos y cada uno de los consumidores puedan acceder en todo momento a una alimentación abundante, diversa y sana, a precio muy accesible.

Pero esta evolución tiene consecuencias que empezamos ahora a medir de verdad, en términos medioambientales y económicos por supuesto, y últimamente también en términos de seguridad sanitaria y de soberanía alimentaria.

Estamos ahora mismo en plena crisis sanitaria. Cada vez más países toman decisiones drásticas de confinamiento, más o menos realistas según el país. Cuanto más estricto sea el confinamiento, mayor es el número de actividades afectadas.
En España, solo las actividades vinculadas con la salud, la seguridad, la higiene, la comunicación y la alimentación siguen teniendo derecho de funcionar. El resto de actividades solo pueden funcionar por teletrabajo. Es cuando nos damos cuenta que el ocio, el turismo, la industria, la construcción no son actividades de primera necesidad. Todo esto se puede parar durante unos días, unas semanas o unos meses, pero la alimentación, y en consecuencia la agricultura, es la base de la supervivencia.
En Francia, la falta de mano de obra inmigrante por culpa de los cierres de fronteras hace imposible realizar determinados trabajos agrícolas. Una llamada ha sido lanzada hace unos días, y en menos de una semana, 80.000 urbanos la han contestado. ¿Sera un repentino interés por las labores del campo, el deseo de huir de la cuidad y de su promiscuidad, la posibilidad de mantener uno ingresos a pesar de la crisis o la posibilidad de evitar el confinamiento que atrae tanta gente?


¿Qué quedara de todo esto cuando se acabe esta crisis sanitaria?
¿Quién recordara que la soberanía alimentaria no es un producto de la imaginación, sino una necesidad vital de cualquier sociedad humana?
¿Se seguirá hablando de una evolución de la agricultura europea hacia una actividad de mantenimiento de los paisajes, cuya rentabilidad no tiene real importancia, siempre que este “limpia” y políticamente correcta?
¿Se podrá entonces volver a un debate sano, no ideológico, sobre la producción de alimentos, la necesidad de desarrollar una agricultura productiva, sostenible, rentable, sana, destinada en prioridad a un consumo de relativa proximidad?



Querido lector, si como yo, estas confinado en tu casa, tendrás tiempo para leer.
Pues no me resisto a poner el link de un artículo que publique inicialmente el 19 de marzo de 2015, es decir hace casi exactamente 5 años. Las cosas han cambiado poco, la verdad.
Y la urgencia de mantener la soberanía alimentaria es cada vez mayor.

147- Merci agriculteur, de remplir notre garde-manger

MERCI, AGRICULTEUR, DE REMPLIR NOTRE GARDE-MANGER !

Sous ce titre (¡Gracias, agricultor, por llenar nuestra despensa !), José Antonio Arcos, journaliste espagnol spécialisé en information agricole, très centré sur l’Espagne et l’Europe, publiait il y a quelques jours un éloge aux agriculteurs sur sa page web, que je conseille à tous ceux qui s’intéressent à l’agriculture et à la production d’aliments.



Depuis plusieurs semaines, avec la crise actuelle du Covid-19, nous sommes tous très sensibilisés et reconnaissants de l’incroyable travail de tous les corps médicaux, souvent réalisé dans des conditions difficiles et même parfois précaires, avec un énorme dévouement en ces temps particulièrement difficiles que nous traversons.

José Antonio Arcos a voulu nous rappeler que les agriculteurs continuent à produire les aliments dont nous avons besoin, et que grâce à leur labeur quotidien et malgré la situation de confinement, nous disposons jour après jour d’aliments de qualité, bien que la vie économique de nos pays soit presque paralysée.

Je veux me joindre à cet éloge, en tant que consommateur et aussi en tant qu’agriculteur. Merci à tous.
Merci également à tous les ouvriers agricoles que poursuivent leur dur labeur dans les champs malgré la situation si tendue que nous vivons. Sans vous, beaucoup de fermes seraient à l’arrêt, malgré la bonne volonté des agriculteurs.

Image personnelle 

« Si nous pouvons rester enfermés chez nous durant quinze jours et ceux qui suivront avec le garde-manger plein, c’est grâce aux agriculteurs. C’est grâce au secteur primaire – qu’ils soient pêcheurs, éleveurs ou agriculteurs – que nous pouvons éviter la faim et la désespérance d’une situation comme celle que nous vivons en Espagne à cause du coronavirus. Il n’y a pas de famine parce qu’il y a des aliments. Il y a des aliments parce qu’il y a des producteurs (agriculteurs, éleveurs et pêcheurs).

Grâce à ce travail des hommes et des femmes de l’Espagne Vidée*, nous mangeons tous. L’Espagne Vidée ou Vide, l’Espagne rurale donne vie à l’Espagne urbaine et à chaque table sur laquelle on pose une assiette. Ce sont mes héros.

Valoriser  la souveraineté alimentaire.

Il est possible que désormais les millions d’Espagnols qui vivent en marge de l’agriculture et des différents secteurs de l’activité du monde agricole puissent comprendre le concept de souveraineté alimentaire. Ces deux mots, que durant ces dernières semaines les agriculteurs et les éleveurs ont crié dans les rues de toute l’Espagne, ne sont pas vides de sens.

Souveraineté alimentaire signifie la capacité d’une nation à s’auto-approvisionner. L’exemple typique, nous le voyons ces jours-ci alors que des millions de consommateurs ont fait des courses massives d’aliments, et ils ont trouvé les produits nécessaires pour remplir leurs paniers. Ces produits, ces aliments, n’apparaissent pas par génération spontanée dans un supermarché ou un magasin de fruits et légumes, ces aliments sans lesquels rien ne serait possible sont produits par un agriculteur. C’est leur créateur.

Cette souveraineté alimentaire prend un sens encore plus profond en situation de crise comme l’actuelle pour cause de coronavirus, face aux hypothétiques limitations ou fermetures des frontières. La souveraineté alimentaire permet que, en marge de ce qui pourrait se produire à l’extérieur, un pays reste capable d’alimenter sa population.

Merci, agriculteur et éleveur, gens de la terre. Merci pêcheur, homme de la mer.

Lorsque nous sortirons de cette pandémie (Covid-19), parce qu’il est certain que tous ensemble nous vaincrons le virus, quand ça se produira (ça se produira), s’il vous plait souvenez-vous que nous ne pouvons pas laisser tomber notre secteur primaire qui est celui qui nous donne à manger. C’est prioritaire.

A part que beaucoup peuvent désormais comprendre ce qu’est la souveraineté alimentaire, ils comprendront aussi pourquoi les agriculteurs sont un secteur stratégique.

Sans agriculture, il n’y a rien («Sine agricultura, nihil»**). Ce sont mes héros. Applaudissons-les tous. »

*L’expression Espagne Vidée (España Vaciada) s’est développée depuis quelques mois pour illustrer les effets de l’exode rural, de l’explosion démographique et économique des grandes cités du pays, et du manque de recours économiques, techniques et technologiques dont souffrent de plus en plus les zones rurales, sans qu’il y ait apparemment une volonté politique d’influer sur cette tendance. C’est aussi un mouvement de revendication de droits pour ces régions immenses, indispensables à la souveraineté alimentaire du pays, et abandonnées par les gouvernements successifs.
** Sine agricultura, nihil est la devise latine du corps des ingénieurs agronomes espagnols.


Cette crise pourrait s’avérer être le révélateur des politiques inadaptées de ces dernières décennies, qui ont vu le tissus industriel, artisanal et agricole se modifier profondément dans les pays industrialisés.
Les marchés des pays riches se sont convertis en un vaste champ de bataille de prix, obligeant de nombreuses activités et entreprises des secteurs primaire et secondaire à disparaître ou à chercher le salut dans des pays où les coûts sont beaucoup plus faibles, bien que beaucoup plus éloignés. Dans le même temps, pour des raisons que j’ai déjà expliquées dans plusieurs articles, la population urbaine a perdu le contact avec son agriculture et ne sait désormais plus ce qu’est le travail de la campagne, ses exigences et ses contraintes, les risques que doit supporter le secteur de production pour que tous les consommateurs puissent accéder à tout moment à une alimentation abondante, diversifiée et saine, à un prix très accessible.

Mais cette évolution a des conséquences que nous commençons à vraiment mesurer maintenant, en termes environnementaux et économiques bien sûrs, et désormais aussi en termes de sécurité sanitaire et de souveraineté alimentaire.

Nous sommes actuellement en pleine crise sanitaire. De plus en plus de pays prennent des décisions drastiques de confinement, plus ou moins réaliste en fonction du pays. Plus l’ordre de confinement est strict, plus le nombre de métier affectés augmente.
En Espagne, seules les activités liées à la santé, la sécurité, l’hygiène, la communication, la production d’énergie et l’alimentation ont encore le droit de fonctionner. Les autres activités ne fonctionnent plus que par télétravail. On se rend alors compte que les loisirs, le tourisme, l’industrie, la construction ne sont pas des activités de première nécessité. Tout cela peut s’arrêter, pour quelques jours, quelques semaines ou quelques mois, mais l’alimentation donc l’agriculture, reste la base de la survie.
En France, le manque de main d’œuvre immigrée pour cause de fermeture des frontières rend certains travaux agricoles impossibles. Un appel a été lancé il y a quelques jours, et en moins d’une semaine, 80.000 citadins y ont répondu. Est-ce un soudain intérêt pour les travaux des champs, le désir de fuir la ville et sa promiscuité, la possibilité de maintenir un revenu malgré la crise ou la possibilité d’échapper au confinement, qui attire tant de gens ?


Que restera-t-il de tout cela lorsque cette crise sanitaire sera finie ?
Qui se souviendra que la souveraineté alimentaire n’est pas une vue de l’esprit, mais un besoin vital de toute société humaine ?
Parlera-t-on encore de l’évolution de l’agriculture européenne vers une activité d’entretien des paysages, dont la rentabilité n’a pas vraiment d’importance, pourvu qu’elle soit « propre » et politiquement correcte ?
Pourra-t-on alors retrouver un débat sain, non idéologique, sur la production d’aliments, le besoin de développer une agriculture productive, durable, rentable, saine, destinée en priorité à une consommation de relative proximité ?



Très cher lecteur, si comme moi, vous êtes confiné chez vous, vous aurez le temps de lire.
Je ne résiste donc pas à l’envie de joindre le lien d’un article initialement publié le 19 mars 2015, c’est-à-dire il y a tout juste 5 ans. Les choses ont vraiment peu changé depuis.
Mais l’urgence de préserver la souveraineté alimentaire est toujours plus grande.
http://culturagriculture.blogspot.com/2015/03/40-fier-detre-agriculteur.html

147- Thank you farmer, for filling our pantry


THANK YOU, FARMER, FOR FILLING OUR PANTRY!

Under this title (¡Gracias, agricultor, por llenar nuestra despensa!), José Antonio Arcos, Spanish journalist specialized in agricultural information, very focused on Spain and Europe, published a few days ago a praise for farmers on his web page, which I recommend to anyone interested in agriculture and food production.



For several weeks, with the current Covid-19 crisis, we have all been very aware and grateful for the incredible work of all medical corps, often carried out in difficult and even sometimes precarious conditions, with enormous dedication in these particularly hard times that we are going through.

José Antonio Arcos wanted to remind us that farmers continue to produce the food we need, and that thanks to their daily labor and despite the situation of confinement, we have quality food day after day, although economic life of our countries is almost paralyzed.

I want to join in this praise, as a consumer and also as a farmer. Thank you all.
Thank you also to all the agricultural workers who continue their hard work in the fields despite the so tense situation that we live. Without you, many farms would be shut down, despite the goodwill of the farmers.

Personal picture


"If we can stay locked up at home for a fortnight and the days which will follow with the full pantry, it is thanks to the farmers. It is thanks to the primary sector - whether fishermen, breeders or farmers - that we can avoid hunger and despair in a situation like the one we are experiencing in Spain because of the coronavirus. There is no starvation because there is food. There is food because there are producers (farmers, ranchers and fishermen).

Thanks to the work of the men and women of the Emptied Spain*, we all eat. Emptied or Empty Spain, rural Spain gives life to urban Spain and to each table on which a plate is placed. They are my heroes.

Promote food sovereignty.

Perhaps now the millions of Spaniards living on the margins of agriculture and of the different sectors of activity in the agricultural world will understand the concept of food sovereignty. These two words that farmers and ranchers throughout Spain have been shouting in the streets during these past few weeks are not empty of content.

Food sovereignty means the ability of a nation to be self-sufficient. The best example can be seen these days in which millions of consumers have made massive purchases of food and have found products with which to fill their baskets. Those products, these foods, are not born by spontaneous generation in a supermarket or in a greengrocer, those foods without which nothing would be possible are produced by a farmer. He is its creator.

This food sovereignty has an even deeper meaning in crisis situations such as the current one, due to the coronavirus, in the face of hypothetical limitations or border closings. Food sovereignty allows a country, regardless of what may occur abroad, to be able to feed its population.

Thank you farmer and rancher, people of the land. Thank you fisherman, man of the sea.

When we get out of this pandemic (COVID-19), because surely we will all overcome the virus together, when it happens (it will happen) please remember that we cannot drop our primary sector, which is the one that feeds us. It is a priority.

As well as many are now being able to understand what food sovereignty is, they will also understand why farmers are a strategic sector.

Without agriculture, nothing (‘Sine agriculture, nihil‘). They are my heroes. An applause for all of them”.

* The term Emptied Spain (España Vaciada) has developed in recent months to illustrate the effects of the rural exodus, of the demographic and economic explosion of large cities in the country, and the lack of economic, technical and technological resources from which rural areas suffer more and more, without any apparent political will to influence this tendency. It is also a movement to claim rights for these immense regions, essential to the food sovereignty of the country, and abandoned by successive governments.
** Sine agricultura, nihil is the motto of the Spanish agronomist engineer’s corps.


This crisis could prove to be the revealer of the inadequate policies of the last decades, which have seen the industrial, craft and agricultural fabric change profoundly in industrialized countries.
Markets in rich countries have turned into a vast price battlefield, forcing many primary and secondary activities and companies to disappear or seek salvation in countries where costs are much lower, albeit much more distant. At the same time, for reasons that I have already explained in several articles, the urban population has lost contact with its agriculture and no longer knows what the work of the countryside is, its requirements and constraints, the risks that the production sector must bear so that all consumers can have access to abundant, diversified and healthy food at all times, at a very affordable price.

But this development has consequences that we are starting to really measure now, in environmental and economic terms of course, and now also in terms of health safety and food sovereignty.

We are currently in the midst of a health crisis. More and more countries are making drastic confinement decisions, more or less realistic depending on the country. The stricter is the confinement order, the more is the number of trades affected.
In Spain, only activities related to health, security, hygiene, communication, energy production and food are still allowed to operate. The other activities now only can operate via telework. We then realize that recreation, tourism, industry and construction are not essential activities. All this can stop, for a few days, a few weeks or a few months, but food, therefore agriculture, remains the basis of survival.
In France, the lack of immigrant labor due to the closure of borders makes certain agricultural work impossible. A call was made a few days ago, and in less than a week, 80,000 urban residents responded. Is it a sudden interest in field work, the desire to flee the city and its promiscuity, the possibility of maintaining an income despite the crisis or the possibility of escaping confinement, which attracts so many people?


What will be left of all this when this health crisis is over?
Who will remember that food sovereignty is not a creation of the mind, but a vital need of any human society?
Will we still be talking about the evolution of European agriculture towards a landscape maintenance activity, the profitability of which does not really matter, provided it is "clean" and politically correct?
Will we then rediscover a healthy, non-ideological debate on the production of food, the need to develop productive, sustainable, profitable, healthy agriculture, primarily intended for consumption of relative proximity?



Dear reader, if like me, you are confined to your home, you will have time to read.
I therefore cannot resist the urge to join the link of an article originally published on March 19, 2015, that is to say just 5 years ago. Things have really changed little since then.
But the urgency to preserve food sovereignty is always greater.

mardi 17 mars 2020

40- Proud to be a farmer



PROUD TO BE A FARMER

I received in the last days of February and in quick succession, three French articles that have heckled me, and that I want to analyze in a parallel.

The first one, published on February 17 on challenges.fr, entitled "Is the French agriculture sick?" http://www.challenges.fr/economie/20150217.CHA3146/l-agriculture-francaise-va-vraiment-mal.html
The second one, published by Franck Gintrand on slate.fr on February 21, is entitled "Surrealistic Agricultural Show" http://www.slate.fr/story/98123/surrealiste-salon-agriculture
The third one, published by Marion Desreumaux on délitsdopinion.com on February 27, is entitled "The French who like farmers, but less agriculture? » http://www.delitsdopinion.com/1analyses/des-francais-qui-aiment-les-agriculteurs-mais-un-peu-moins-lagriculture-18148/

I think what is happening in France can be extended to many industrialized countries, although the phenomenon has not everywhere the same intensity, there is a safe bet that we will see the phenomenon worsen in the coming years unless agriculture, farmers and agricultural organizations and trade unions are able to change the trend.

First of all, we observe on challenges.fr that "in 2014, farmers' incomes are expected to fall by 5% to 24,400 euros, according to early estimates.
Breeders are still worse off. For example cattle farmers have seen their income drop by more than 20% to 14,500 euros per year.
But this year, two spinnerets join the breeders in the rank of the lowest paid farmers. First, the fruit growers with annual sales revenue falling by over 55% to 13,400 euros. Involved, a production of peaches and apricots abundant with low prices, and the Spanish competition pulling prices down.
But above all it is the grain producers, until now considered the rich sector of agriculture, which bear the brunt of the fall in cereal prices. They should record in 2014, a revenue loss of about 40% to 11,500 euros per year.
In this gloomy picture, only the vine growers and dairy farmers are spared. "

As a first observation, farmers often live badly, with modest or low incomes. Because it's difficult to live in France with 14,500 euros per year, even worse with 13,400 euros, and even more with 11,500 euros, less than 1,000 euros per month.
It is known as the years go by and not alike. This is often true, but not always. Sometimes they look alike.
There are always a few farmers that are going better than others, which are often taken as an example of success or wealth. Yet the reality is that described in the article by challenges.fr.
The French and European agriculture as a whole through a very difficult period.
The article does not mention the huge price distortions between the price paid to the farmer and that paid by the consumer. Yet the theme appears in a comment. How the consumer, whose share of the budget spent on food continues to rise, can he understand that the farmer is worse off than him? Currently, I mean in the winter period 2014-2015, the potatoes are paid to the farmer to 4 cents / kg, oranges to 7 cents / kg. With these prices, the farmer does not cover its costs, is losing money and has no choice but to have to go into debt to continue.
These same products, paid to these shockingly low prices, are sold in stores to the consumer, between 20 and 40 times the original price. This is unacceptable.
How has the system been able to vitiate at the point that the only two really indispensable links in the chain, that is to say, the producer and the consumer, are the only victims? All other links (packaging or control or transportation companies, commercial operators, wholesalers, retailers, supermarkets), live well, or very well.
How can governments allow to sustaining such a situation that affects almost everyone, including the state itself?
Because when the purchasing power declines, food is the first necessity and the whole consumption is reduced.
Furthermore the farmer, with a low income, is sentenced to live in self-sufficiency, stops investing, and doesn't consume anything.
And everyone is surprised to see that the economy of industrialized countries is stagnating.

Then on delitsdopinion.com, we find that several opinion surveys on agriculture have been recently published:
"In a recent Harris Interactive poll, conducted for Groupama on occasion of the Agriculture Show of Paris, 72% of French people say they have a good picture of farmers. Few professions can now boast of having one as good. This is based primarily on the representation of the "work" value (90% of French people believe that farmers work great) and the sense of commitment (74% consider that farmers represent well this value), as well as a heritage defense conjugation (76% identify them as the guarantors of the natural heritage of the country) and modernity (84% say they have been able to integrate new technologies into their business). Nearly 2/3 of French people (64%) even argue that farmers should be considered as an example. Same tone in the Odoxa poll for Le Parisien, where the rate of "good opinion" goes to 82%. Farmers are being skilled of helpful (96%) and brave (94%), impassioned (90%) and sympathetic (73%).

The image of feeder, hard at work, cultivating the attic of France or raising livestock to fill our plates continues and is a part of the identity of our country. This is probably why so many politicians throng the aisles of the Salon de l'Agriculture. In addition, the farmer's job is associated with a significant sense of sacrifice: the fact of no counting the hours, of not taking holidays ... often for income considered as not being up to the level of the effort. In this context, it would be churlish to criticize farmers which our country could not do without. And it is quite welcome to promote the involvement or even a form of self-denial. »

It's OK, the French people have a very positive and virtuous opinion of farmers and values they represent, and that's good. Poorly paid but useful (!!!), courageous and friendly.
Let us be proud! But is this for us something?
Because everything is not all sweet.
"On the issue of subsidies, the French are fairly ambivalent. Certainly 47% of the French people describe, in the farmers image barometer of the Ifop institute for Dimanche Ouest France, farmers as "assisted", that is to say, dependent on public assistance (+3 points compared to 2014). But this figure had already reached 61% in 2006. And a majority wants subsidies persist or are amplified. In fact, 76% say they feel the need "to continue to subsidize agriculture to maintain a rural France.
Regarding food safety, 51% of French denounce in the Odoxa poll, a profession they consider insufficiently attentive to this issue. In the Harris Interactive poll, nearly one in three French people, thinks even agriculture is inefficient to reduce risks in food safety for the consumer (traceability, labeling ...). In the Ifop barometer, if a majority of French people believes it can trust the farmers, this proportion fell by 3 percentage points since 2014 and 13 points since 2003. In addition, the French are this year only 52% to judge the farmer is friendly to their health against 59% in February 2014 and 69% in 2013. This relatively sharp deterioration carries questions.
Most importantly, in the Harris Interactive poll, 61% of French believe that French agriculture is ineffective in the fight against pollution of water, air and soil. In Odoxa survey, 64% believe that agriculture is not otherwise sufficiently attentive to the environment, 52% qualifying therefore farmers "polluters". Same criticism manifested in the Ifop survey: only 44% of the French people consider that farmers are environmentally friendly, down 5 points since 2014 and 12 points since 2012. The impact of agriculture on environment is therefore a potential point of tension between the French people and farmers. »

What a situation! The farmer is actually a helpful friendly virtuous poor brave polluter, dangerous and attended. The portrait advance, but it is grinning. One can only wonder what kind of strange being is about to appear.
Fortunately, the Agricultural Show of Paris will take steps to reconcile the population and agriculture. Is this so sure?
 
"The Show capitalizes on a friendly and informal image, that of an emblematic and mediatic event. A surreal image very far from modern agriculture. Despite the short traditional visit of the President of the Republic and of the entire political class, the Show makes it a point of honor to maintain this surreal gap between the vision of a becoming marginal rurality, and realities of an agricultural world who took an impressive technological shift.
Certainly, the Show organizers are not totally unaware of that. They rightly chose as the theme of "Agriculture in motion" for this year 2015 edition, to promote modern scientific techniques used by the profession. But clearly, the choice of theme is a formality quickly shipped. On the website of the event are, next to the theme, topics such as "I love animals", "Bar and wine cellar", "Local products", "General Agricultural Competition" ... Besides, this year, the space for animals will increase.
A Show that lies knowingly about the reality of modern agriculture.
An almost timeless image... Yet agriculture has tremendously progressed. And despite his critics say, it is not limited to the debate on the use of fertilizers or the development of GMOs. Who will tell this, if farmers are not convinced themselves, if they are paralyzed, complexed to the point of hiding behind an outdated frontage?
Within a few years, farmers have moved from traditional agriculture to intensive agriculture and then to very high precision farming. Through satellite guidance systems, a tractor is no longer driven like yesterday. Thanks to information systems, a cow is no more milked today, like it was done before, even in the 1990s.
More decisive, the use of mathematical models to optimize the use of a field, the importance of molecular biology, integrated pest management and plant breeding to protect ecosystems against threats, or modern genetics to better understand the physiology of an animal, the architecture of irrigation networks that now allow to grow wheat almost anywhere, even in the desert ... And what is to say about the progress that has been made to save water, improve animal welfare, design products more suited to the demands and constraints of modern life? Yes, these are the realities we should dare to valorize, since all these aspects are now the heart of the occupation of farmer or rancher in developed countries.
Moreover, it is by mastering these upheavals that our agricultural production is the first of the European Union, up to 18%, far enough ahead of Germany, Spain and Italy, which are to about 12%. France is one of the countries with the highest levels of per capita productivity and cereal yields in the world, with the United States, Australia and Brazil. Our agri-food sector remains competitive internationally with a trade surplus since the 1970s, including in recent years marked by the crisis.
So how to explain that the Agriculture Show does not make more visible the technological advances and innovative machines that enabled these results? That would certainly delight children and probably their parents, as well as the softness of the wool of a sheep or the taste of a local sausage. »

Here we attack another level, however closely linked with the previous articles.
It seems that there is some complex, a sort of shyness of the agricultural world.
Maybe it comes from the excessive and unwarranted pressure on him, dangerous and insidious combination of:
-an approximate shape of diffuse environmentalism in the population, often uneducated on agriculture, and blind as soon as it is spoken about environment,
-the irrational fear of poisoning, strongly supported by environmentalists and widely reported by the media and governmental administrations, while the risk has never been so low since the world began,
-a sort of awkwardness of agricultural organizations, not always in tune between them, to form a common front in defense "of a certain idea of ​​agriculture," and therefore each pulling the blanket to him,
-a clear populism of the political class, for which 5.6% of employment and 3.6% of GDP does not necessarily weigh very heavily in the politico-electoral balance, even if "many politicians throng the alleys of Agricultural Show. "
-and the impotence of scientific and technique agricultural organizations, often blocked, either by the "politically correct" orientation of their works, or by excessively low budgets, or suspected of partiality for having to seek financing from private companies, in order to maintain their business and the jobs that depend on it.

"And if farmers also assumed their job with pride?
The bet deserves to be addressed, as it is a great scientific and human adventure. Unfortunately, the opinion does not always realize, and remains suspicious about agricultural technology, between the ethical controversies surrounding GMOs and the excesses of a few large multinationals involved in the "Green Revolution". But how blame it if the Show, which is the unique opportunity to celebrate agriculture in France, does not fulfill its mission of education and information, as does, for example, the World of Agriculture and Breeding of SIMA, unfortunately too little known?
Such ambition is far from inaccessible. Officials may fear a lack of audience by upsetting their strategy, but they are not expected to show whether cautious. In the US, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has been remarkably successful, specifically for its ability to offer concrete and playful experiences for a family audience, in a revamped agricultural universe, revealing the sometimes incredible feats that our current production systems daily demonstrate.”

This way, the public could feel the real evolution of agriculture, understand the issues, and note that farmers are not any more these dangerous and assisted polluters, regularly presented to them.

Indeed in my opinion, it is very simplistic and counterproductive to maintain, in the consumer’s mind, year after year, the farmer's image just like the good traditional peasant in his folk costume, with the main attractions of shows, in livestock competitions and wine tasting, cheese and delicatessen.
I'm not saying we should remove them, this friendly and crude image participates in the generally positive opinion. But as it says in the article, it should be done more emphasis on the many aspects of very modern and high-tech agriculture.
Precision agriculture is more and more a reality, and it's also one of the main available means to meet the productive and environmental coming challenges.

And never forget that agriculture is a highly strategic sector. That is both
- A bargaining chip: industrial products are swapped with agricultural products with countries with few other resources,
- A geopolitical weapon: see what happens in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia: to protest against the blockage, Russia closed its borders to food products from countries supporting these measures. The result is an agricultural crisis by excess production,
- An environmental control tool, maintaining many natural balances, contrary to what one would have us believe. Just imagine the Landes (former marshland in the South of France) without agriculture and forestry? We should certainly observe the return of malaria, to name one example,
- An essential basis of the industry and crafts by providing numerous raw materials (see in this regard, my article Nº30 "They're everywhere," September 2014).

Leave the agriculture left to itself, like the European Union seems to want to do, is also and above all, take the risk of leaving disappear expertise and knowledge of many farmers, agronomists and agricultural technicians, ruined or tired of making efforts without return, retrain or leave relocate in countries, often in development, who themselves know value their skills.

Farmers must learn to reveal their job to consumers who do not know, just by showing and explaining reality, with the support of officials and scientific organizations. Agriculture has been metamorphosed (see my post No. 2 "metamorphosis" of January 2014) but, apart from the farmers, who is aware of?
A communication directed to the consumer may only have a positive effect on his opinion and an indirect positive effect on consumption.
Agriculture as a whole has everything to gain, but we have to find the right way to do it.

Let us be proud of being farmers. Let us be proud of the hard work we do every day for the population to have available an abundant, diverse and healthy food.

A recent and scandalous event gave me because even before publishing this article. Logically, it will be my next theme.