French farmers, who briefly postponed their protests last week while the government came up with a package of crisis measures, stepped up their disruptive demonstrations after many rejected the aid as unsatisfactory on Thursday.

In meetings on Thursday, ministers made the distinction between problems facing dairy producers - who have seen prices for their products plummet on international markets - and beef and pork producers, who are seriously struggling in France. In June the government brokered an agreement between farmers, retailers and processors that would have seen farmers’ margins increasing, though those protesting claim that actors further up the supply chain have failed to deliver on these commitments, whilst middle men and retailers have blamed one another for the lack of improvement in farmers’ returns.

Last week, the country’s farming minister and prime minister unveiled a €600m relief fund and a 24-point plan to support the troubled French livestock industry. Dairy processors also agreed to pass on any price increases directly to farmers, and agriculture minister Stephane LeFoll said on Friday that he is working with his counterparts from across Europe to find solutions to the dairy crisis.

On Thursday, as government ministers met with representatives of different supply chain groups to discuss the situation (one in ten livestock farmers is facing severe hardship and threats to their business, according to the agriculture ministry), militant farmers who rejected the government’s terms embarked on their fifth consecutive day of protests, blockading routes into France’s second city, Lyon.

The bridge linking the western isle of Oleron to the French mainland was also reportedly blocked off on Thursday and farmers unleashed live pigs in a supermarket in the South.

The FNSEA (national farm union), which has coordinated protests said farmers’ voices must be heard, and rejected the government’s support package as “Insufficient”. In addition to the actions around Lyon, farmers in the north returned to their barricades, blocking off the tourist site of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy.

FNSEA spokesperson Xavier Beulin asked those protesting to remain “level-headed”, but said that not all affected farmers have yet been involved in demonstrations, and repeated that those who are suffering must be allowed to express their anger.

So far, farmers’ actions appear to have had the desired effect; French president Francois Hollande has asked the public to buy French goods, demanded better procurement practices from the catering industry and promised to drive up export sales (starting with a visit to China in November). However, as protests spread and became more disruptive, government officials appeared less sympathetic. Prime Minister Manuel Valls accused farmers of penalising holiday makers late in the week.

Farmers on the A6 motorway between Paris and Lyon wrote “Valls, we are waiting for you” in tyres used to block off a main road into the southern city.

Protests continue into Monday

On Sunday night, farmers blocked roads leading into France from Spain and Germany, and protests took a more sinister turn. Farmers and agricultural workers on the barricades in Alsace allowed all cars and trucks from France to pass, but turned back lorries from Germany in a bid to prevent imported produce from entering the country. Meanwhile, others in the Haute-Garonne region took meat and fruit from Spanish trucks.

Those involved justified their decision to confiscate loads entering France, by claiming they face higher operating costs and additional taxes, meaning imported products, even from other EU states, are undercutting French goods.

However, Spanish unions reacted furiously to the protestors’ actions. The Spanish Unio de Llauradors i Ramaders called on the EU authorities and French government to intervene after a shipment of pig meat from Aragon was intercepted by farmers in Normandy. The farmers dumped the truck’s cargo (2,000kg of meat) into the road.

After a similar incident in March, the Spanish union threatened reprisals on French shipments in Spain, warning that “Milk and other French products” may be targeted unless attacks on Spanish trucks stopped. Last week, the union issued a statement saying “The free movement of goods is one of the basic principles of the EU, and therefore governments must facilitate it.”

The union said Spanish producers are being made to pay for the actions of processing companies and large retailers, who are the “Main culprits” in this crisis, as they “Abuse their dominant position in the market and impose ruinous prices on producers.”

Euronews' coverage of the protests: