Champs Elysees

Philippe Wojazer/Reuters

Yesterday, struggling French farmers transformed the Champs Elysées, the busiest, most car-friendly road in Paris, into a field, according to the UK's Guardian newspaper.

In addition to 8,000 plots of earth, 150,000 plants were brought into the French capital overnight, along with cattle and sheep, in an operation that cost private investors some €4.2m.

William Villeneuve, president of the young farmers' union, insisted the demonstration was a celebration rather than a protest at falling revenues.

'We are not here to bemoan our plight,' he stated. 'We are here to promote our trade.' He added that farmers simply wished to make French consumers think about 'what they have on their plates' and how it got there.

Organisers of the event, which was due to run yesterday and today, revealed that they hoped to attract up to 2m people.