France Farm Protests at INRAE: Trade and Regulation Tensions

More than a hundred farmers gathered on a brisk morning to raise a wall of concrete blocks, symbolically blocking the entrance to INRAE, the National Institute for Agricultural Research, Food and Environment in France. They arrived by car and public transit—no tractors or heavy machinery. Collecting before 6:00 a.m., they were briefly blocked and surrounded by police before placing the blocks in front of INRAE, the wall erected at the unions’ initiative. The action comes as the sector remains mobilized over the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, a deal supporters say could reshape global markets and, critics warn, threaten small producers and rural livelihoods alike. According to authorities, the protest reflected a broader anxiety about how international commerce intersects with domestic farming rules and environmental policies.