| During this electoral campaign, agricultural issues have taken centre stage due to the spectacular protests staged by farmers across Europe since January. Right-wing parties have made more efforts to capitalise on these protests for political gains. Left-wing parties, from greens to socialists, struggle to prove they can be farmers’ best allies. Recently, environmental groups organised a pre-election demonstration in Brussels focusing on climate and agri-food issues. However, NGO stakeholders and politicians vastly outnumbered farmers. This contrasted sharply with an anti-Green Deal protest held on the outskirts of the Belgian capital that gathered 1,200 farmers from nine different countries. In many farmers protest, demonstrators have expressed similar concerns over bureaucratic requirements, new trade agreements with non-EU countries, and low remuneration. Even engaged organic farmers recognised last week that producers require better compensation for protecting the environment and biodiversity. “It’s not about the regulation. It’s about the system that we put them through,” Léa Charlet, a Belgian green candidate for the European Parliament, told Euractiv The green transition, she added, is likely the only way for farmers to continue their work as extreme weather becomes increasingly frequent, biodiversity declines, and soil quality deteriorates. However, the EU’s Green Deal and its agri-food leg, the Farm to Fork strategy, have been criticised for pushing measures that would become costly for small and medium-sized farmers without offering additional financial support. And trying to impose new regulations on a group already facing economic hardship, as well as struggling to attract young people, nourishes feelings of frustration and anger that are easy for populist parties to exploit. | 