Jeremy Clarkson says ‘good luck’ to protesting French farmers

The Clarkson’s Farm star, 63, wished “good luck” to those calling for the French government to respond to demands for better remuneration for their produce, less red tape and protection against cheap imports.

It comes a day after a French farm owner told a national newspaper the country needed a celebrity “to do the same as Jeremy Clarkson” – who has gained plaudits for his Prime Video series shedding light on the issues farmers face as he attempts to run his own farm in Oxfordshire.

In a message written in French, Clarkson said on X, formerly known as Twitter: “French farmers. I bet no one has ever said that before, but good luck, coming from England.”

Clarkson’s comment comes after he told The News Agents podcast in 2022 that he believes food prices should be double what they are.

At the time, he told presenters Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel: “People simply don’t pay enough for their food. The one thing a government will never say ‘oh you’ve got to pay more for your food, you don’t pay enough’.”

Protesting farmers camped out at barricades around Paris on Tuesday using tractors and mounds of bales to block highways leading to the French capital – which is set to host the Olympics in six months.

In a general policy speech at the National Assembly, France’s newly appointed prime minister Gabriel Attal said he is implementing controls on foreign food products in order to guarantee fair competition.

He also said food retailers who do not comply with a law meant to ensure a fair share of revenues for farmers will be fined, with immediate effect.

The targeting of Paris — host of the Summer Olympics in six months — and traffic-snarling protests elsewhere in France promised another difficult week for Attal, less than a month into the job.

Protesters said Mr Attal’s attempts last week at pro-agriculture measures fell short of their demands that producing food should be more lucrative, easier and fairer.

Farmers responded by deploying hundreds of tractors, trailers and even harvesters to block and slow traffic in what they described as a “siege” to squeeze more concessions.

Some protesters came with reserves of food and water and tents to stay at their barricades if the government does not cede ground.

The barricades highlighted gulfs in economic and social opportunity between town and country in France. Protesters said they felt ignored by government ministers they accused of rarely venturing to farms and getting their shoes dirty.

The government announced a deployment of 15,000 police officers, mostly in the Paris region, to head off any attempt by protesters to enter the capital.

Officers and armoured vehicles were stationed at Paris’s hub for fresh food supplies, the Rungis market.

At Jossigny near the Disneyland theme park outside Paris, protesters blocked all six lanes of the A4 motorway, parking their tractors so they formed what looked like an ear of wheat when seen from the air.

Some vehicles carried placards declaring “No food without farmers” and “The end of us would mean famine for you”.

South of the capital, protesters used forklift trucks to deposit large bales to block the A6 motorway, broadcaster BFM-TV’s images showed.

“Our goal isn’t to bother or to ruin French people’s lives,” Arnaud Rousseau, president of the influential FNSEA agricultural union, said on RTL radio. “Our goal is to put pressure on the government to rapidly find solutions out of the crisis.”

The movement in France is another manifestation of a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s nearly two-year full-scale war in Ukraine, a major food producer.

Protests are also taking place in Belgium, where farmers have blocked more traffic arteries as they seek to disrupt trade at major ports in a continued push for concessions to get better prices for their produce and less bureaucracy to do their work.

The rallies have seen only a few hundred tractors snarl traffic across the nation of 11.5 million.

Hundreds of thousands of Belgians have been facing disruption and struggling to get to work, or saw their doctor’s appointments cancelled because of the protests.

The farmers also plan to protest outside EU headquarters during Thursday’s summit of government leaders.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said: “It is important that we listen to them." He added "they face gigantic challenges,” from adapting to climate change and countering environmental pollution.

Belgium currently holds the EU presidency and Mr De Croo said that he would address the issue during the summit as a late addition to an agenda centred on providing aid to Ukraine, after Russia’s invasion nearly two years ago.