Around 1,500 tractors entered Paris on Thursday morning, causing traffic chaos and carrying French farm representatives all the way to key government buildings.

After meetings at the National Assembly and the prime minister’s office, they obtained promises of a fresh cash injection for farmers affected by falling prices and high debt repayments.

Debt relief

Prime minister Manuel Valls said the French government would foot the bill for up to €100m in farmers’ debt interest this year and treble exceptional tax breaks to the tune €50m. French farmers can also apply for a debt moratorium and defer any loan repayments due this year until later.

According to Valls, the measures pledged by his government, local authorities and the EU to address the current income crisis amount to €350m per year for the three coming years, and their effects will be worth €3bn to the farming sector.

”Message of love”

He said this was “a message of love” from the French nation to farmers. A poll published on Thursday showed that 84% of respondents supported ongoing farmers’ protests, which have put pressure on buyers to turn away from Irish and other imported food products.

Valls also promised that “no new regulations going beyond European obligations will be introduced until February” 2016.

“The government has heard us,” Xavier Beulin, president of the leading farmers’ union FNSEA, told protestors on one of Paris’s largest squares in the afternoon.

Local media reported disagreement among the farmers present, however, with some arguing that emergency cash will not replace pricing reforms. A placard hanging on one tractor read: “Prices, not payments.”

French farm leaders called on protestors to join the EU-wide demonstration planned on 7 September in Brussels.

French farmers drive 1,500 tractors to Paris protest

Following a large march in the French capital, the government has announced fresh relief for cash-strapped farmers – but some would rather see action on farmgate prices.