Militant farmers are poised to descend on Rome with their tractors today after German workers blocked Frankfurt airport as part of the anti-Brussels protests sweeping across the EU. 

Farmers have expressed anger at what they say are excessively restrictive regulations on agriculture and unfair competition, among other grievances.

The movement erupted in France last month and there have also been protests in Germany, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Greece and the Netherlands. Farmers have blocked motorways and disrupted traffic in key cities with convoys of tractors.

In Italy around 150 tractors massed in Orte, about an hour north of Rome, on Saturday. Protesters there called for better pay and conditions and announced their imminent arrival in the Italian capital, a reporter nearby saw.

'Italian agriculture has woken up,' said protester Felice Antonio Monfeli. 'It's historic and the people here are proving it. For the first time in their history, farmers are united under the same flag, that of Italy.'

The demonstrators have for days been calling for talks with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government, without having had a response so far.

'The situation is critical, we cannot be slaves in our own companies,' said another protester, Domenico Chiergi.