Every year, farmers from all over France load up their finest cattle/sheep/donkeys/cheese/wine and drive all the way into the capital to participate at the Salon de l’agriculture (Agriculture fair), which is held in Paris, at Porte de Versailles.
The event is a big deal, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators and a handful of politicians (more on them below).
So when is it?
This year it runs from Saturday, February 22nd to Sunday, March 2nd.
Where?
It's held at the exhibition centre at Porte de Versailles (15th arrondissement) in Paris, easily accessible by Metro, bus or tram, open from 9am to 7pm each day.
Tickets are €16 (€9 for students or children) and can be purchased online (here).
What is it?
In essence, the Agricultural Salon is a rare merging of French city and countryside.
For visitors, it’s an occasion to discover French farming, talk to farmers and see the products and animals up close (and to taste the finest French produce from wine to charcuterie, cheese to Armagnac). And it's popular - in 2023, 615,000 people visited over the course of the week.
For farmers, it’s a rare get-together for a profession that is normally spread wide across the country.
It's also a way to show off their products to Parisians and politicians, who usually see their finished products in the store and not up close.
You mentioned politicians?
As well as the highlight of the farming calendar, the Salon is a must-do event for politicians who nurse presidential ambitions.
It has long been the scene of political campaigning, with political hopefuls battling over who seems the most at ease petting cows and pigs.
France is a country with vast rural areas that prides itself on its cheese, meat and wine - goods that it can thank its farmers for.
However, farming has become an increasingly tough profession. Not everyone can make it work. There were 460,000 French farms in 2019, compared to 750,000 two decades ago - and this malaise fed into the farmers' protests in 2024.
Farmers work long hours and many earn salaries that are far below the French minimum wage. Two out of five earn less than €4,320 a year.
READ MORE: 'Farming doesn't feed us': The story of France's ailing agriculture
Ex-President Jacques Chirac was known and loved for being hands-on with everyone he interacted with on the ground. Cows were no exception. Photo: AFP
French politicians, on the other hand, tend to come from a certain privileged and urbanised background, with most of them educated in the same Paris-based elite universities.
This is the time where these same politicians get to show that they really care about the country's farmers.
The trend really began with Jacques Chirac, who was a huge fan of the Salon and made sure that he spent hours there, talking to as many people as possible.
In 2019 Emmanuel Macron made sure to break the official record of a presidential visit at the Salon, spending more than 14 hours inside the fair. The previous record of 12 hours was sat in 2018 - by Macron.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen has never missed the event in recent years, and many other political hopefuls see it as a change to demonstrate that they are 'of the people'.
Should I attend?
Yes. The Salon is a great day out, about far more than just politics. Prize-winning cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry, horses and donkeys from all over France attend, with their owners, bidding to become champions of France.
Equally important are the many food and drink stands - divided into regions - that show off all of France's best local specialities.
Traditionally the first weekend is when politicians go, the serious business of judging classes mostly takes place during the week and the final day is distinctly convivial as the farmers enjoy a bit of relaxation and celebrations (and trust us, no-one parties like French farmers).
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