The annual meeting of the agricultural world begins on Saturday in Paris in a tense climate, without cattle for the official photo, a first in the history of the event, while two unions boycott the traditional exchange with the executive.

Published on: 02/21/2026 - 04:53 Modified on: 02/21/2026 - 10:19

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The Agricultural Show was inaugurated on Saturday February 21 in Paris by Emmanuel Macron, without cows for the official photo, against a backdrop of an epidemic of lumpy skin disease and a boycott of the Peasant Confederation and the Rural Coordination, which will not be present at the traditional meetings between the president and the main agricultural unions.

“I will then see with the minister, bilaterally, each of the unions that wish it,” declared the President of the Republic a few minutes before the inauguration. “This is a moment when everyone must be behind the French farm, not a moment of division.”

The President of the Republic first discovered the stand of the Martinican breeder André Prosper, who invited him to come to his island after having had to give up bringing his Brahman cow Biguine, who was to be the face of the 2026 edition. A hologram will allow the public to discover this breed with Indian roots.

The intentions of the Rural Coordination (CR), a fan of punchy actions, are worrying and the head of state should be accompanied by 250 plainclothes police officers, a particularly important device, according to a police source.

The second agricultural union remained ambiguous about its intentions, calling on Friday for a “massive” mobilization of its members in the yellow hats. Its president Bertrand Venteau said he did not wish to be present at the breakfast in the company of the President of the Republic, usually followed by the official inauguration then a stroll through the aisles of the exhibition center.

“I advise him not to try to come see us, the reception risks being harsh,” François Walraet, secretary general of Rural Coordination, told AFP.

The CR and the Confédération paysanne will each have a stand but affirm that they do not want to make the show a “showcase” which would hide the difficulties encountered on the ground by farmers, denouncing as usual the “co-management” between the FNSEA-JA union alliance and the government on agricultural policies.

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FNSEA and Young Farmers, who saw their hegemony disrupted by the rise of the CR in the last professional elections, accepted the morning meeting with Emmanuel Macron even if they gave up on obtaining from him a "vision" for agriculture, a little over a year before the presidential election.

However, they hope that the Head of State will weigh in by then in the negotiations on the budget for the post-2027 common agricultural policy, after having obtained around 9 billion euros per year for French agriculture under the previous CAP (2023-2027).

“Moving upmarket”

Ahead of the presidential election but especially the municipal elections in March, political figures will nevertheless follow one another until Sunday March 1 among the hundreds of stands.

For ten years, the number of farmers has continued to decline in France and crises have accumulated. In October 2017, the newly elected president gave a major speech at Rungis, “the largest fresh produce market in the world”.

He then advocated the "upgrading" of agriculture, a model which has since come up against the inflation which followed Russia's invasion of Ukraine but also the economic consequences of geopolitical and climatic hazards.

Read alsoPesticide cocktails, flags and slogans: in Paris, the fight continues against the Duplomb law

Three winters in a row, farmers have taken tractors out of the sheds to demonstrate in cities or block highways. In 2024 to ask for income, consideration and a future; in 2025 to demand the realization of promises, pushed back by government instability.

In 2026, it was the management of bovine dermatosis in the South-West which broke the camel's back, adding to concerns about the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement, an agri-food trade balance on the verge of a deficit and ever more intense climatic hazards...

No arms, no cows

The government highlights the “success” of its management of lumpy skin disease, since no new outbreak has occurred since January 2 and restrictions were lifted in the South-West on Friday.

But the breeders have not yet revised their decision not to bring cattle to the show and the CR and the Peasant Confederation continue to contest the policy of total slaughter of infected herds.

Storms and floods that have submerged many crops in recent days have further darkened the minds of farmers, many of whom are not in the mood for celebration.

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Several organizations are struggling to mobilize volunteers to man the stands at the Porte de Versailles show, while the organizers have done everything to try to maintain the conviviality and family spirit of the event without its usual bovine stars.

Some 3,500 horses, donkeys, sheep, pigs, dogs and cats began to flock to the site on Friday, which will also present sausages, West Indian rum and traditional sauerkraut, among other local products.

With AFP

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