French farming union says protests could block Paris region

France's biggest farming union says that farmers could take their protests to the capital in the coming days if their demands are not met.

FNSEA leader Arnaud Rousseau said on Wednesday that his union "is not ruling anything out" in terms of how it may intensify its demonstrations.

Agricultural workers have been protesting across France in recent days, most often by blocking roads with tractors, trailers and other farm machinery.

Union leaders have promised some kind of action in 85 of France's 96 mainland regions by Friday.

French farmers are protesting against high costs in the industry, tractor fuel tax, cheap imports, low salaries, the effects on their sector of the environmental transition, red tape, and price pressures from the retail sector.

The protests began in the south of the country but have since spread across the country.

They have already proved deadly after a woman and her teenage daughter were killed on January 23 when a car rammed a roadblock where they were standing.

All three people in the car were taken into custody and questioned on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter after their vehicle careered through bales of straw piled up to stop traffic in the southern French region of Ariège.

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Speaking after Wednesday's cabinet meeting, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot said: "The blockades are taking place and there is no question of preventing this expression of demand... because the demonstrations are organized within a legal framework".

The government has met union representatives and it is proving a big early challenge for new prime minister Gabriel Attal, who has been in the job for just two weeks.

Representatives of Rural Coordination, which is the second largest French agricultural union, said their meeting on Tuesday with Attal was "constructive" but they did not call on their members to end the blockades.

The union said it was waiting for "concrete" and "rapid" measures from the government.

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