The almost annual late January to early February “rite” of farmers’ protests in central Greece, replete with parked tractors and combines blocking national roadways, became a distinct prospect this week.

Groups of protesting farmers clashed with assembled riot police on two occasions on Thursday during attempts to park agriculture vehicles on the main north-south highway in Greece (E65), as part of a bevy of demands mostly involving state subsidies and compensation.

Similar protest actions by farmers and stockbreeders have been a “seasonal occurrence” in Greece going back some 40 years, almost always taking place during the agricultural sector’s “down time”, in January and February, and with the most dynamic mobilizations in the central Thessaly province.

Three or four organized groups of farmers have threatened to block roads this week.

In one instance on Thursday, riot police used tear gas and lobbed stun grenades to keep a group of farmers from blocking the highway. At last word, protesting farmers had parked vehicles beside the closed tollway at one main juncture.

Among others, the farmers’ groupings and unions in the region are demanding that the state reimburse lost income from higher production costs but lower crop prices. They are also demanding tax-free diesel fuel, a ceiling on electricity rates for agricultural uses, capped at seven cents per Kwh, subsidized fertilizers, supplies and animal feed.

The “laundry list” of demands, however, doesn’t end there, as published announcements also petition for no less than 100% compensation of losses of farm capital and production, full coverage in the face of natural risks and plant/animal diseases by the state-run insurance fund (ELGA), and state-sanctioned “…guaranteed prices for our products and our survival, and affordable prices for popular consumption…”

Finally, the “bundle of demands” includes a call for hikes in farm sector pensions.

One of the points raised, which is unrelated to a greater subsidization of the sector, is for the state to complete infrastructure works in the wider Thessaly province to better protect against natural disasters and repairing previous damages.

The region suffered severe flooding and massive related damage in early September 2023 from record-breaking precipitation at the time.