EXPERT COMMENT
Events in France and Germany show that policies to deliver sustainable food, transport and energy systems need to take far better account of the needs of rural communities.
As many countries prepare to go to the polls in 2024, the need for a transition to Net Zero emissions has become a key political battleground. In Europe, the sustainability of farming practices is the latest flashpoint, intertwining political interests, ideologies and food supply.
Farmers' protests have spilled into the streets of Paris, Berlin and Brussels, transforming urban centres and turning motorways into battlegrounds where the clashes between agricultural interests, sustainability policies, economic inequality and nationalist manipulation play out.
In France, the EU's biggest agricultural producer, a blockade of 800 tractors has surrounded the capital to ‘starve Paris'. The farmers' grievances range from government taxes, cheap imports and water storage issues to price pressures from retailers and red tape from regulations, particularly around the controls on nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides. Simultaneously, farmers are worried about the threats arising from climate change (such as drought) and attempts to reduce the emissions that cause it.
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