Emmanuel Macron came out in fighting form during a tense visit to the Paris agricultural show, squaring off with a farmer in a heated exchange after the French President was booed and whistled at as he toured the giant exhibition.

The event was reminiscent of his meeting with angry workers at a Whirlpool factory last spring during his election campaign when he was heckled by a mob but managed to calm them down by standing his ground and talking to them.

The 40-year-old president turned up at the Paris farm show, an obligatory annual trip for French heads of state, knowing it would likely be a fraught visit due to farmers’ woes about declining incomes, the future ban on glyphosate, and the EU trade deal with South America.

After breakfasting with the leading players in the world of French agriculture, he began touring the stands in the giant exhibition halls on the southern edge of Paris that are packed with hundreds of farm animals and produce.

He got some cheers but it was mostly booes and hisses that followed Mr Macron, who was at all times surrounded by several bodyguards.