He has the same last name as the great philosopher of the Enlightenment and is a very peculiar trade unionist. Arnaud Rousseau, 50, has served as one of the main leaders – and probably the one with the greatest influence on its outcome – of the great mobilization of French farmers and ranchers in recent weeks. As president of the National Federation of Agricultural Trade Unions (FNSEA), founded in 1946 and with 212,000 members, Rousseau has played a crucial role in negotiations with the Government and in ensuring that the protest, even in the moments of most tension, will not lead to uncontrolled violence.
The latest revolt in the French countryside has given prominence to several local leaders. Jérôme Bayle, cow breeder from the Upper Garonne, a giant former rugby player, had his day of glory on Friday, January 26, when the Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, chose him as his interlocutor for several hours during his visit to a farm in the Pyrenees . They were a strange couple. Bayle, without removing his cap with a backward visor, then accompanied the head of government, in the official car, to the first highway that was blocked in the protest movement, the A64, between Toulouse and Biarritz. Attal seduced Bayle with his promises, who ordered the blockade to be lifted, which earned him the accusation of a “sellout” and “traitor” by other union members.
Other leaders took over from Bayle in the media spotlight, including Karine Duc, a winegrower from Lot-et-Garonne, who had easy words and never took off the yellow hat with the initials of her union, Rural Coordination, placed over her blonde hair. . Duc had the privilege of being received at the Matignon palace, seat of the prime minister, and hours later she was arrested for entering the large central market of Rungis, on the outskirts of Paris, without permission.
When push came to shove, however, Rousseau imposed his hierarchical position and his capacity for institutional dialogue. The president of the FNSEA was, together with his colleague Arnaud Gaillot, from the Young Farmers, who urged last Thursday that the blockades on the motorways be lifted. He gave a vote of confidence to the Government until verifying whether the promises are fulfilled, although he warned that the conflict could be revived.
Arnaud's career is not very common. He has more the profile of a top executive than a farmer. Former soldier in the reserves and graduate of a prestigious business school, he worked in finance and in the trading of agricultural raw materials until he took over the family farm, in the department of Seine-et-Marne. In 2014 he won the mayoralty of his town, Trocy-en-Mutin, as an independent.
Together with his wife and a handful of employees, Arnaud cultivates 700 hectares of cereals – wheat, rapeseed, sunflowers, corn and beets – for which he receives generous European subsidies. And that's not all. The president of the FNSEA is in charge of several companies, including the Avril group, one of the largest French agri-food conglomerates, a colossus of oils and biofuels, with a turnover of 9,000 million euros in 2022.
Arnaud ardently defends putting limits on the prohibition of pesticides because he considers that the priority is to continue producing enough to feed the population. He is also in favor of building large ponds to store water, projects that are opposed by radical environmentalists.
The union leader and businessman, father of three children, suffered a serious accident in 2010, when he was 36 years old, which could have cost him his life. He fell into a silo, from a height of 9 meters, and managed to climb back up with the strength of his arms and despite the fact that he had broken both legs. This traumatic experience encouraged him to later travel a thousand kilometers of the Camino de Santiago, to prove to himself that he was once again capable of long walks, another of his passions.
