PARIS (AP) — French farmers are threatening to amplify a protest over low egg prices by smashing thousands of eggs on the streets and squares of France's main poultry producing region of Brittany.
The head of Brittany's egg producers' lobby Yves-Marie Beaudet says he "understands the movement" that began earlier this week when local press reports say around 15 masked farmers dumped pallets holding tens of thousands of eggs in front of a grocery store in Ploumagoar. The action has continued nightly in the region since Tuesday.
The cause of the farmers' anger? Over-production and expensive renovations to meet new European norms on hen houses that have resulted in farmers making only 0.7 euros (94 cents) per kilogram of eggs, down from 1.10 euros per kilogram last year.