Growing pain Why farmers are so angryand what the EU is trying to do about it

Farmers' protests have been sweeping Europe in countries such as Greece, Germany, Portugal, Poland and France, where the government was taken by surprise late last month by a motorway blockade of Paris.

- Jon Henley

Some concerns, such as a plan by Berlin to phase out tax breaks on agricultural diesel to balance the budget, or a requirement in the Netherlands to reduce nitrogen emissions are country-specific. But many are shared continent-wide.

Farmers have said they face falling sale prices, rising costs, heavy regulation, domineering retailers, debt, the climate crisis and cheap imports, all within an EU agricultural system based on the premise that "bigger is better".

Costs are up, prices are down Farmers' costs - notably for energy, fertiliser and transport - have risen in many EU countries, particularly since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. At the same time, governments and retailers, mindful of the cost of living crisis's effect on consumers, have moved to reduce rising food prices.

Farm-gate prices - the base price farmers receive for their produce dropped by almost 9% on average between the third quarter of 2022 and the same period last year, according to Eurostat data analysed by Politico, with only a few products bucking the trend.

Imports are also a bugbear, particularly in central and eastern Europe, where cheap agricultural produce from Ukraine - on which the EU waived quotas and duties after Russia's invasion - have depressed prices and increased resentment about unfair competition.

Polish farmers began blocking roads from Ukraine in protest as early as last spring, and although Brussels soon imposed restrictions on Kyiv's exports to its near neighbours, as soon as they expired Hungary, Poland and Slovakia each announced their own.