The annual Paris International Agricultural Show is usually a platform for French politicians to show voters how down-to-earth they are. Literally.

But this year's edition, which began on Saturday, will first be a litmus test of whether recent concessions by the government are enough to calm the anger of French farmers.

Judging by the hostile reception that French President Emmanuel Macron received on the first day of the fair, it seems the farmers want the government to do more to support them. Macron was greeted with boos and whistles by angry crowds, who have been demonstrating for weeks against falling incomes and too much bureaucratic red tape.

The government's reaction to these protests highlights how powerful the farmers are, said Faustine Bas-Defossez, director for nature, health and environment at Brussels-based European Environmental Bureau, a network of 180 NGOs across 40 countries. Agriculture accounts for only about 1.6% of France's GDP.

"The authorities had been cracking down on other protest movements such as the one last year against a recent pension reform using batons and tear gas, but they kept their distance when 12,000 farmers blocked roads across the country for weeks," she told DW.

The police only intervened on rare occasions — for example, when dozens of protesters marched into the international wholesale market Rungis, south of Paris, intending to block it.

"The farmers' political power is well enshrined at all levels — through the numerous agricultural chambers but also because many local politicians are farmers themselves," said Bas-Defossez.

Pierre-Marie Aubert, director of agricultural and food policy at the Paris-based think tank Institute for Sustainable Development........

© Deutsche Welle