- The Saint Druon cereal farm covers 150 ha in Pas-de-Calais.
- Operated conventionally, it has started its conversion to organic.
- The owner's daughter, an agricultural engineer, will resume operations.
In Carvin, near Lens, in Pas-de-Calais, the Saint Druon farm has been passed down for ages within the Deswarte family. In a few years, it will be the turn of Cyrielle, 28, to take the reins of this essentially cereal exploitation. But in the meantime, the young woman will work together with her dad, Bertrand, on a transition to organic farming. A challenge that delights both father and daughter.
Despite its 150 hectares, the Saint Druon farm is nevertheless considered by its owners as an average farm for the region. Bertrand Deswarte has been cultivating cereals and vegetables there in the conventional way, for 35 years. The man could have retired for a few years already, but if he does not drop the case, it is neither for lack of means nor of descendants.
Journeys that open the mind
The latter is provided by Cyrielle, her 28-year-old daughter. A graduate in crop production from the Rennes School of Agronomy, the young woman has already been on the go a lot: “I did a lot of internships all over the world. In Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Spain, Finland… It inspired me a lot and it opened my mind, ”she explains. For the past four years, Cyrielle has been employed near Toulouse as an agricultural engineer: "I talk a lot with my father about my work, and I think it got his ear in the bud about converting to organic", says Cyrielle.
“Organic is belief. But what interests me above all is the technical challenge that this represents. We have no room for error, insists the young woman. For example, if we have not managed the weeds badly, we will have them for years on the plot. "For the father, it's a bit the same thing:" He too is very technical and conversion is his end of career challenge that he would have regretted not taking up, "admits his daughter.
“The vision of the nice bio and the conventional villain is very Manichean”
Suddenly, they started by converting, the first year, about forty hectares. The objective being the transition from the entire farm to organic in 2020. However, Cyrielle does not define herself as an “integrist” of organic. “My training taught me that the vision of the friendly bio and the conventional villain is very Manichean. Several systems must coexist in order to be able to remunerate the farmer at fair value ”. The engineer also believes that it is necessary to have a certain logic: "Producing organic that we export to the end of the world does not make sense, insists Cyrielle. Our wheat, we sell it to local millers for example. "
In April, the young woman will leave the south to resettle in the region and invest more in the family farm. However, she does not plan to spend all her time there. “I found a job as an agricultural engineer near Lille, the takeover of the farm will be for a few years. My goal is to keep a foothold in a business to stay abreast of trends and not stay stuck in a routine on the farm, ”insists Cyrielle.
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