A reported 36,000 French farmers turned out in force on Tuesday and Wednesday in protest over sluggish agricultural prices and environmental constraints. Some farmers handed out free vegetables while others took a more extreme route to highlight their concerns.

The “Eat French” campaign saw farmers bag the fruit and vegetables before handing them out free of charge to street goers. More than 50t of fresh fruit and vegetables was delivered to Paris before being handed out.

This is the latest in long line of protests from French farmers.

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There have been more than 150 protests by farmers since August who are forecasting a 20% drop in their incomes this year as domestic and international markets remains sluggish.

More extreme branches of the protests burned mounds of vegetables while in parts of France including Nantes, Tours, Toulouse and Chartres in the region of 100t of manure was dumped on the streets. This was done to express anger towards the French Government’s nitrate curbing regulation.

According to French news website, RT, one of the slogans at the protest read: “Manure, we can't spread it any more. You can have it, help yourselves.”

The action is being organised by FNSEA the main French farm organisation.