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Visitors walk between planted fields, part of a two-day event called 'Nature Capitale,' on the Champs Elysees near the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris.

The Jeunes Agriculteurs (Young Farmers) union, representing some 55,000 farmers under the age of 35, installed mini-fields along a km (half mile) stretch of the avenue -- whose name means "Elysian Fields" -- to present an array of farm production from lavender plants to livestock.

The event harks back to a display organized 20 years ago in which combine harvesters cut a field of grain on the same avenue in Paris, and farmers hope it will garner support as they seek to reverse a decline in farm revenues.

Farmers have used Paris as a stage for protests in recent months, including a tractor-led demonstration and an unauthorized protest in front of the presidential palace.

The presence of the ministers offered a way for the authorities to ease tensions in farming over environmental legislation they say has penalized their competitiveness.

The effort by French farmers comes as they call for the European Union to maintain a strong regulatory framework for farming as the bloc debates the future of its Common Agricultural Policy, under which France currently receives the most subsidies out of the 27 EU countries.