The new coronavirus is hitting European agriculture hard. Labor, demand and price crises: the sector is once again in turmoil. To cope with the difficulties, some dairy farmers quickly reorganized.

This is the case of Vincent de Langenhagen, dairy farmer from the Croix Labbé farm, in Manerbe, in Normandy. The farmer has increased his manufacturing of processed products. A winning bet since, as soon as the confinement was announced, consumers rushed for butter and cream. "They consume more or they stock up. The supermarkets ran out of products."

Consequence: since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, his family dairy has been running 15 hours a day. Four of them feed and milk 80 cows to make nearly a hundred pieces of butter and liters of cream every day.

"When you eat our products, think of us"

It is thanks to the strategy of the short circuit, implemented for many years by joining forces with local shops and supermarkets in the region, that the Norman breeder manages to get out of it. "There is no intermediary, the cows eat and are milked on the farm. The milk collected is also processed there and goes directly to the customer. There are no other intermediaries than us."

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The milk producer hopes that this crisis will change the image of a suffering profession. "We have been criticized a lot, we have been the worst polluters but we are feeding people. I hope they will realize that there are some who get up every morning so that they have something to eat at noon , and milk in their cereal in the morning, and cheese in the evening. "

His wife, Isabelle de Langenhagen, adds: "When you eat our products, think of us, the job done behind! And then eat local, eat healthy and everyone will survive ..."

A message widely relayed on social networks by the entire agricultural world, which encourages the population to consume French with a clear slogan: "You can always count on us to feed you."

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