Support of the peasants milk producers: the Rural Confederation installed a firm place Jean Jaur s in St-Etienne

Since Wednesday, August 19th, The peasants of the rural Confederation of the Loire and of the Rh ne installed a farm in the middle of St-Etienne, towards the kiosk of the Place Jean Jaur s. Currently, 7 cows are there, a news is added every day. On Monday, 24, a milk lorry of SODIAAL was diverted and brought on place, in the High Street.

Why this action? Because the milk is currently paid to the peasants 260 euro the ton (about 0,26 euro the litre) while the cost means of production is 350 euro, is a 90-euro loss by 1000 litres, and every month a monthly 1000 - 3000-euro loss for most 2000 peasants milk stockbreeders of the Loire. It is a strangling, that leads to one new wave of disappearance of farms.
In aid of whom? Big groups of milk industry. And groups of big distribution, which sell the litre of milk - deprived of fat - more than an euro
The means to cause this collapse of prices was to organise an overproduction by augmenting (by waiting to abolish them completely in 2015) the existent quotas of production in Europe. The surplus is used to slash all prices
Besides that to make big benefits, one of the objectives of operation is to restructure milk course of study, by abolishing - as for France - 30 000 of 86 000 remaining milk producers. To go towards plants to milk, in some zones of France and of Europe, with milk transport by lorries on hundreds and thousand kilometres

"Contractualisation": A plan of subjugation of the peasants who would survive

It is not everything. The Rural Confederation has just revealed the existence of an explosive document introducing the plan which the minister of the agriculture, with milk industry, gets ready to announce before the beginning of October: impose on the peasants " Contractualisation ", in reality: integration.
It is an organisation of the milk course of study that would include two shutters. First, the (same) milk would be paid to the peasants according to 3 categories: In, B and C, with 3 prices: 1st the most correct, the 2nd bottom, and the 3rd miserable. It is the dairy which would decide month after month on sharing out in these three categories of the delivered milk - inevitably on pain of penalties - by the peasant. Then, the peasant would promise to buy from milk industry all cattle feed and all products necessary for milk production (maintenance etc).
It is a plan to truss the peasants up. As it was made in the production of the pigs and that of chickens, they would lose any autonomy and become simple performers (without even a guaranteed wage!).
The peasants want to keep an autonomy. They ask for a remunerative price. And for it a public workmanship of the produced volumes. They fight for a rural agriculture, linked to all society.

Thorough solution is agreed that the peasants and the society take back in hands the distribution of farm produce, develop all forms of direct sale and short circuits - as AMAP, producers' shops, markets etc - but if this has classes and must be speeded up, it is still very minority, food industry makes law today and more than 90 % distribution of foodstuff is controlled by big distribution and its 6 central purchasing agencies.
If they want to set these changes up, you should not let abolish the current peasants. Let us demand that political decisions are made by the elected representatives and the government!
And to defend rural agriculture, it is also to act for the relocation of economy, for the job creation, and it is to struggle against ecological crisis and climatic warming.

For the moment it is envisaged that ongoing action continues until September 1st, date in which the European commissioner in the agriculture, ultra-liberal Fischer-Bohl, which abolishes quotas and asserts its objective to restructure agriculture by eliminating peasants, will be heard in front of the European Parliament of Strasbourg.

The peasants make a job of public utility. Let us support leaving place Jean Jaur s meet them and sign the petition of support

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