A warmer reception for Nicolas Sarkozy at this year's Paris farm show suggests the French president's push to reclaim rural voters is having an effect. The presidential race is in full swing since Sarkozy declared his candidacy in mid-February and began rallying hard to try and overturn Socialist challenger Francois Hollande's clear lead in opinion polls. Farmers are a traditional bulwark for the conservative UMP party in Europe's top agricultural nation, yet many were put off by Sarkozy's city-bred image, his blunders at past farm shows and his early championing of environmental regulation. Disaffection among farmers contributed to the UMP's heavy defeat in regional elections in 2010. Since then, Sarkozy has since visibly courted the farming world with financial support and speeches in which he has taken swipes at environmentalists. Sarkozy used his four-hour visit to the Paris farm show on Saturday, his longest stay yet at the annual event, to voice campaign priories like industrial competitiveness and a better work ethic, notions that play well with farmers. His near-dawn arrival to watch cows being milked and sit down for breakfast with livestock breeders helped smooth over memories of past gaffes, such as when he famously insulted a man who would not shake his hand at the 2008 show. “The atmosphere is more relaxed than before when there was real tension between farmers and the government,” said Bernard Basile, a dairy farmer from the northern Seine-Maritime region. “He was campaigning - but the message about competitiveness and France as a land of production was a bit new and I welcome that,” said Xavier Beulin, head of the FNSEA farm union. Two polls published on the eve of the farm show put Sarkozy well ahead among farmers for the April 22 first round, with 40 percent next to scores below 20 percent for other candidates.
