The farmers standing with their arms crossed outside a sheep barn in rural Brittany were absolutely furious, completely en colère. For a visiting centrist politician, that made for an earful. For Europe’s far right, it has provided an opening.
In recent months, angry agricultural workers have rolled their tractors into Paris and other cities across Europe, blocking roads, spraying manure and setting things on fire. Farmers are mad about high costs and low prices, about the prospect of free trade deals, about the constraints of climate regulations, about what they say is a failure of political elites to understand what it means to grow wheat or raise sheep.
Their revolt is reshaping European policy — officials who previously promised to put the environment first and lead the world in a green transition have scrambled to walk back some of their own rules.
And in a year of key elections in both Europe and the United States, the farmer uprising may foretell a sharp right shift.
The European far right is skillfully seizing the moment, promising an agricultural overhaul and a chance to stick it to the city slickers. By inserting themselves into the farm fight, far-right figures have the potential to broaden their appeal. They can also continue to rail against elites and make the case for nationalism, as symbolized by salt-of-the-earth farmers.
New noun unlocked: farm right.
Definition: Right-wing farmers who won’t adapt or die.