- While the Agricultural Show opens its doors on Friday in Paris, 20 Minutes met Ludovic Riedinger, market gardener in Hoerdt in Alsace.
- The family farm, which cultivates a good part of its vegetables in reasoned, progressively goes to organic.
- A reconversion which remains economically and technically difficult.
Better to have strong kidneys and a real business strategy to go organic while being a market gardener. Because it is far from obvious, even in 2020, as explains Ludovic Riedinger, farmer in Hoerdt in the Bas-Rhin (Alsace).
Associated with his father, the vegetables of the young farmer of 36 years are for a good part, cultivated for several years in reasoned. “But it was time to switch to organic because there is demand, explains Ludovic Riedinger. Anyway, the step between reasoned and organic culture is not so great, so much to go organic, we have experience, even if it is not done so easily. Just over two years ago, he applied for three of his 40 hectares of the estate to have the precious label. While at the same time developing the farm store where he sells his produce. "It is financially essential if we want to get there," says the farmer.
The obligation of a fine strategy
The Riedinger farm has almost seven hectares devoted to organic vegetables and almost eight hectares solely for asparagus (conventional). "We have a total area of 40 hectares, so a good half of the farm is used for green manure, a little cereal because some are very good for cleaning a field, before handing over potatoes or vegetables" , details the farmer.
But what limits the market gardener to switching to organic total is the financial cost "When we already have a certain size of operation, a certain inertia with employees to pay, credits to be reimbursed, production must be organized, specifies Ludovic Riedinger. On a small farm without employees, you can bite the bullet for two years and switch to organic farming. Me, I go there little by little. "
Not all land
The farm has grown on three hectares since October and the first plantings will start in two weeks. Are expected red potatoes, beans, peas, all cucurbits. Two other hectares are in "preparation" and Ludovic Riedinger wishes to make, each year, one or two additional conversions. Difficult to do more because the operator is confronted with regulatory and economic barriers, such as the ban on organic cultivation of a vegetable already cultivated conventionally by the same farm, unless creating another company ...
And to multiply the accounting and administrative red tape. A constraint which makes it impossible for the moment to convert its asparagus into organic. “The problem is that this represents seven hectares planted in conventional and to go organic, we would have to completely stop their production, which is not possible. But we will perhaps go from green asparagus next year in the hectare that I have put in conversion ”, anticipates the market gardener.
Count on the long term? The farmer decided to put an hectare into organic conversion every year, no more: "I cannot afford for two years not to have sufficient income, I need conventional production and of that in reasoned also because I have eleven fixed wages to pay ”. So he turns the land usage around and during this time the exploitation continues normally with the rest of the production. It is only at this price that he will be able to obtain more and more organic hectares.
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