Meanwhile, in madcap France:

“Ransacked. This is how Tristan Arlaud, an organic farmer established in the south-east of France, returned to see his production on July 8. The greenhouses of the Jardins de Paradis, in Puy-Sainte-Reparade, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, have been lacerated, sheared. The peppers, tomatoes and zucchini are completely destroyed.

“With his wife, the farmer decides to file a complaint. Almost routine for this couple, victim of malicious acts on their agricultural property since 2016. "For four years, their complaints for attacks on property have not reached court," says Quentin Motemps, their lawyer. After this umpteenth complaint, Tristan Arlaud continues to work and eat his own produce.”

Cue Jaws music.

“But a few days later, the farmer needs to be hospitalized suddenly. Feverish, he was vomiting and suffering from diarrhea. He lost seven kilos in four days. He decided to get tested: it turns out he was the victim of glyphosate poisoning. The herbicide was sprayed on to his organic crops. Now they are unusable, and toxic, unfit for consumption under an organic label. Six of his nine greenhouses were sprayed, the loss of earnings amounting to 35,000 euros. "These greenhouses, I can no longer cultivate in them for two years," laments Oriane Arlaud, wife of Tristan.”

Batshit loopy.

Turns out they piss off the local farmers that feel threatened by an organic farmer in their midst.

Why such acts? Their lawyer puts forward the hypothesis of jealousy and fear of new competition that the couple represent for "farmers who have been here for longer, even for generations." In the village where they settled, for the first few years, the activity of these new organic farmers was the subject of "mockery" and "gossip".

And they’ve been there since 2007!

Fun times in grim rural France. Even the sunflowers look sad in the back country these days.

At least some good has come out of it:

“Even today, the two farmers can count on a loyal clientele, and have around 30,000 euros to cover their losses, thanks to online donations. "This is a huge relief, a strong message," the farmer said, moved. “I never thought that people who didn't know us could be so affected by what happened to us. We've been crying like Madeleines for a while now. After ‘a violent psychological shock’, the couple are motivated to rebuild ‘their life’s work’. ”

Crying like Madeleines is apparently a biblical reference. Because these are also Madeleines, and I’ve never seen one crying: