In France, 200 farms disappear every week for lack of buyers.
In 10 years, almost half of the farmers will be retired.
To fight against the disappearance of agricultural land and facilitate the installation of “newcomers”, the Terre de Liens federation has developed a platform to put farmers in touch with their potential successors.
20 Minutes
went to Haute-Loire where Emeric Duclaux, 28-year-old neorural, has just taken over the fruit farm from Bernard Cottier.
From our special correspondent in Haute-Loire
"By 2026-2030, we will have the biggest social plan that France has ever known". When it comes to projecting himself into the future, Benjamin Duriez, director of the Terre de Liens federation, does not hide his concerns. The reason ? In ten years, “45% of the 400,000 French farmers will be retired”. With the questions that this raises: Who to take over their operation? How to prevent them from being urbanized?
Bernard Cottier, installed in the small village of Rosières in Haute-Loire, has repeatedly returned the problem in his head before making the decision to hang up. But after 25 years of hard work, he longed to pass the hand, moved by "weariness" and fatigue. "However, I wanted to be sure that we would not do anything with my land after my retirement", he slips, cap screwed on his head and gaze turned towards the rain. No question of letting his organic farm die off: 5 hectares of raspberries, blackberries, currants and blackcurrants, mainly intended for the fresh market.
The native child had to show patience and was sometimes discouraged.
The first announcements made with the Chamber of Agriculture were a blanket deal.
No response, which is not surprising.
In France, the figure is eloquent: 100 farms disappear every week for lack of buyers.
“The land problem is becoming significant.
Those who inherit it are not those who produce, ”observes Benjamin Duriez.
The succession assured by the neorurals?
The number of volunteers, ready to take up the torch, dropped considerably until 2010. There are many reasons for this. “First and foremost, the farmers themselves advise their children not to do this,” he continues. Agriculture is not remunerative. We work a lot but we live mainly on subsidies. In the end, it's discouraging ”. Not to mention the "real obstacle course" that candidates for installation must go through.
The Terre de Liens federation, whose mission is to fight against the disappearance of agricultural land, launched a platform in November to put “cedants” and “new installers” in contact.
The objective is also to support the volunteers on the condition that they carry a project focused on organic and peasant agriculture.
1,200 ads have been posted online over the past four months.
Surprise: nearly 200,000 people consulted them.
Mainly neo-murals "disgusted with the city" and in search of meaning.
"Proof that the demand was there", underlines Benjamin Duriez, adding that "60% of new installers do not come from the agricultural sector".
Facilitate the transition
Emeric Duclaux, 28, is the perfect illustration. It was he who took over the land from Bernard Cottier on January 1. A graduate in agronomy, the young man from Bugey (Ain), traveled around for a long time before settling down in Haute-Loire. He first worked in humanitarian aid in Panama, Uganda and the Philippines before setting up an urban agriculture project in Lyon. “I always had the idea of working the land to plant trees, but I had difficulty finding a place to settle,” he explains.
The boy scoured the ads for two years, scouring the four corners of France. He traveled to Brittany and the Pyrénées-Atlantiques to find a small piece of paradise, a place "isolated from the large city basins". Without success. Until he came across Bernard's announcement. Emeric fell in love with it. “It was a turnkey installation that was running,” he explains. The young man sees it as an opportunity to seize his chance. Especially since its budget is limited: 100,000 euros of investment over four years. "There will be 30,000 euros for planting and irrigation, as much for the equipment and still as much for the next planting of strawberries for example", he explains.
The magnitude of the task does not scare him.
In July, he will harvest his first raspberries.
“Each hectare can produce between 7 and 14 tonnes of fruit.
But I am aiming for a production of 4 tonnes in the first years, ”he announces cautiously but determined to succeed.
Living a few hundred meters from the plots, Bernard is never far to help him get his bearings, repair farm equipment and show him the way.
Since then, the two men have formed a solid friendship.
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