The slogan “No Farmers No Food” is not a recent catchphrase, despite being used by European farmers in their dynamic mobilisations.
It was first widely used in India in 2000 when farmers protested against the increase in fertiliser prices and agricultural supplies. It then travelled to the World Social Forum in 2001 and was adopted by agricultural organizations around the world, aiming to emphasise food security. It was used in Greece in 2008, in the USA in 2018 against the Trump administration, and more recently, in France last December, before spreading to Brussels, Poland, Germany, and of course, Cyprus. It is a timeless and clear slogan, which compels societies to engage with the agricultural movement that rightly challenges European governments.
All this is for specific reasons that start with the so-called “green reforms” of Brussels, which largely endanger agricultural sustainability. European farmers, who ensure the food sufficiency of over 510 million citizens, point out that the so-called “green transition” was not implemented after consultation and dialogue with the European Agricultural Movement. It was introduced as the new EU Common Agricultural Policy, focusing on reducing greenhouse gases in the primary sector and includes measures such as mandatory fallow land, restrictions on the use of fertilizers and pesticides, with penalties for those who act differently. These measures result in reduced product output and increased imports from third countries to meet the needs of the lower social strata.
Thus, agricultural products from Morocco, Israel, South Africa, Turkey, or the occupied territories (since Cyprus is in the EU) unfairly compete with European products when they enter the EU markets. Meanwhile, the European farmer using pesticides faces six months in prison, a €150,000 fine, and 10% of their turnover, while farmers from third countries, including criminal Turkey, using carcinogenic substances (banned in Europe) face no penalties.
Moreover, the “Green Deal” announced last year, criticized by farmers for both its rules and the bureaucracy required for compliance, has been affected by drought, which has significantly impacted agricultural production and led to a decrease in essential products like olive oil. This seemingly does not concern Ursula von der Leyen, who simply wants to add the “Green Transition” to her resume, regardless of the cost to the agricultural world, societies, and food security.
Cypriot farmers aptly note in their memorandum to the President of the Commission, presented on Thursday outside the House of Europe: “Farmers, beyond being cultivators and producers, are the unique part of the population that cares for European land and is the guardian of natural resources, air, water, flora, fauna, and biodiversity conservation. They aim for sustainability, healthy nutrition for citizens, and the promotion of high-nutritional-value products centred on the Mediterranean Diet.”
This is to make it clear to those not moved by this uprising, thinking that quinoa and oat milk come directly from factories, that the agricultural world does much more for the environment than the Commission and other European bureaucrats.
And if the times do not remind us of the historic uprising of farmers in Kileler, Thessaly, in March 1910, when locals protested against the expanded privileges of the “landlords,” the conditions are not different, and the agricultural world once again shakes the cities to save the countryside: “Black beast and blind, whipped, to which dark pit are you dragging me with a fierce pulse?”
