Ukraine War Will Last, Hit France’s Farmers, Macron Says

PARIS—French President Emmanuel Macron said he expected a lasting war in Ukraine with serious consequences for France’s agricultural exports.

“This crisis will last, this war will last,” Mr. Macron said during a Saturday visit to the Paris agricultural fair. Western sanctions on Russia will weigh on French exports such as wine and grain, and lead to an increase in the price of energy and animal feed, Mr. Macron said.

“We must prepare ourselves for this with a lot of determination and solidarity,” Mr. Macron said, adding that the government was working on a resilience plan to help farmers.

The annual fair, the Salon de l’Agriculture, is a marquee event in France that is attended every year by the French president and main opposition leaders. Candidates running for the presidential election in April are all expected to visit the show this weekend.

Mr. Macron spent more than 12 hours at the show’s last edition in 2020, to reassure farmers about the impact of Brexit and a reform of the European Union farm policy. This year Mr. Macron, who has yet to officially announce that he is running for re-election, had to cut his visit short because of the war in Ukraine.