Paris: Farmers dumped mounds of potatoes in central Paris and manure at government buildings in other towns as they urged their countrymen to "Eat French" in a day of national protests.

Fed up with environmental regulations and a downturn in agricultural markets, farmers piled 50 tons of fruit and vegetables at the Place de la Republique in Paris, then bagged it for passers-by.

An effigy of Ecology Minister Segolene Royal burns in Dijon. Credit:AFP

Farmers fear that falling prices linked to Russia's import embargo and big harvests in the European Union this summer will cut farm incomes in the bloc's largest agricultural producer after an average drop of 20 per cent in 2013.

"Clearly we are expressing our annoyance, and the annoyance of the entire farming world," Damien Greffin, head of the FNSEA union in Paris region, told Reuters.