It’s the event of the year for animal-lovers in Paris and for farmers from all over France. The Paris Agriculture Fair (Salon International de l’Agriculture) opened to the public on Saturday, to showcase cows, goats, pigs, chickens and… France’s leading politicians. The Salon is not only a huge attraction for families who swarm the enormous expo centre that is turned into a mega-farm this time every year to see animals they would never encounter in the city: It is also an annual rite of passage for French presidents and leaders from across the political spectrum. The Salon is not only a huge attraction for families who swarm the enormous expo centre that is turned into a mega-farm this time every year to see animals they would never encounter in the city: It is also an annual rite of passage for French presidents and leaders from across the political spectrum. Among the political highlights was the 2008 visit of then president Nicolas Sarkozy in the first year of his term, when he was caught on camera telling a farmer who refused to shake his hand, “casse toi, pauvre con,” (for which “Get lost, you jerk” is a polite translation). Sarkozy later expressed remorse for that indiscreet outburst, widely mocked by his opponents. “That was an act of stupidity that I regret to this day,” he wrote in his book, “La France Pour la Vie,” published in 2016. “It dragged down the dignity of the presidency.” The antagonism of that encounter was all the more striking because of its contrast with the farmers’ warm embrace of Sarkozy’s predecessor, president Jacques Chirac. Chirac was a fêted fixture at the show, every year spending hours strolling from booth to booth, congratulating breeders for their magnificent livestock, sharing a glass of wine and complimenting farmers on their cheeses or sausages. “He went from oysters to cheese to meat to drinks, until 11pm,” Christophe Gabert, a breeder from the Isère region in the country’s southeast, told France Info radio. “Nobody knows how he managed to digest everything he ate! He started at 7am.” Chirac’s close connection to France’s farmers was formed when he was minister of agriculture in the early ‘70s, well before he became president. Between becoming minister of agriculture in 1972 and his retirement from public life in 2011, Chirac missed only one fair – in 1979, following a car accident. Chirac’s close connection to France’s farmers was formed when he was minister of agriculture in the early ‘70s, well before he became president. Between becoming minister of agriculture in 1972 and his retirement from public life in 2011, Chirac missed only one fair – in 1979, following a car accident. But his relationship with French farmers has not been conflict-free: They did not appreciate his determination to gradually phase out the use of glyphosate and resented being depicted as polluters. During his visit Saturday morning Macron tried to reassure them, saying the popular herbicide would not be banned where there were no alternatives. Chirac’s close connection to France’s farmers was formed when he was minister of agriculture in the early ‘70s, well before he became president. Between becoming minister of agriculture in 1972 and his retirement from public life in 2011, Chirac missed only one fair – in 1979, following a car accident. But his relationship with French farmers has not been conflict-free: They did not appreciate his determination to gradually phase out the use of glyphosate and resented being depicted as polluters. During his visit Saturday morning Macron tried to reassure them, saying the popular herbicide would not be banned where there were no alternatives.
