Thousands of EU farmers take to streets ahead of extra agriculture meeting

Thousands of European farmers and milk producers, as well as a large number of tractors, held a mass demonstration in front of the headquarters of the European Union (EU) Monday, protesting falling food prices and demanding EU's help.

It had been predicted that up to 6,000 farmers and 2,000 tractors will attend the demonstration outside the EU Council, where an extraordinary meeting of the agriculture ministers from 28 EU member states will be held later Monday.

Copa-Cogeca farm trade union, one of the organizers of the event, said the mass demonstration was held "in response to the drastic situation hitting EU dairy, pork, fruit and vegetable and beef producers".

EU agricultural producers have claimed that some 6.13 billion U.S. dollars in agriculture have been lost due to the food embargo against Russia, according to the trade union.

In August 2014, Moscow imposed a one-year ban on the import of certain food products from the countries that had introduced sanctions against Russia. The food ban was later extended for another year.

With growing concern on the slumping prices and poor revenue, the demonstrators demanded actions from EU ministers to help alleviate the situation in the immediate- and longer-term sense.

According to the announcement by the Council of the EU, the ministers will discuss the state of the EU's agriculture markets, with milk prices a particular priority, as well as the impact of the Russian sanctions during the extraordinary meeting.

The protest was the latest demonstration after a week of massive protests in EU's member states. In France on Thursday, thousands of farmers, and more than 1,500 tractors, took to streets in Paris demanding fair prices and more support from their government. Endit