In Brittany, a country where the pig is king, rivers are regularly polluted with slurry from pig farms.
A few breeders in the region keep their pigs on straw and not on concrete like the vast majority.
This farming model is more concerned with animal welfare and the protection of water resources.
All may not be so good about the pig. Brittany, which had a herd of 7.6 million head in 2019, can attest to this. Regularly, rivers are decimated in the region by pollution of agricultural origin, and in particular by slurry emanating from pig farms. The last episode was only two weeks old. Flowing near Morlaix, the La Penzé river was devastated in early April by a slurry spill that killed all the fish for more than three kilometers. An umpteenth accident which made the local fishing and nature protection associations leap up and demand "a strong legal response" and "a real criminal hearing, without financial transaction with the polluters".
In the land of the pig, mentalities are changing all the same and the intensive agricultural model is increasingly criticized.
However, there is still a long way to go in a region where 95% of pigs are raised in industrial buildings on slatted floors.
But alternatives exist such as raising pigs on straw.
Based in Médréac, half an hour west of Rennes, Yannick Denoual opted for this model in the early 2000s by taking over the family farm.
And it was not the ease that guided his choice.
“It takes more work because you have to mulch every day,” he admits.
The straw absorbs some of the nitrogen
But sensitive to the environment and animal welfare, Yannick Denoual held on. In his 125 hectare farm, he breeds between 250 and 300 pigs, broken down by age. On their straw mattresses, the animals do not look unhappy. "The pig is an animal that needs to nosy and chew, it's his natural instinct, and he can't do it on cement, it stresses him out," he says. Its breeding, which is not organic, does not threaten the water resource either because the straw has the advantage of absorbing part of the nitrogen contained in the pig excrement, thus limiting the risk of runoff in the yards. of water.
Committed to this process, Yannick Denoual naturally joined the Cohérence Network in 2004, which was created the same year.
Since then, this association has promoted the breeding of pigs on straw through “progressive” specifications to which breeders must adhere.
"Pigs must be fattened on litter and there must be no GMOs in their diet," explains its president Carole Le Blechec.
The use of antibiotics on animals is also only authorized for curative purposes and each animal must have a surface area of 1.5 m².
New outlets for virtuous breeders
So many sustainability criteria to ensure that the farmer produces an "environmentally responsible" pig.
Candidates are however quite rare with "only" thirteen breeders throughout Brittany who have received approval from the Cohérence Network.
In order for new people to convert to straw, the association has just signed a partnership with Terres de Sources, a project initiated by the Eau du Bassin Rennais community to encourage virtuous local agricultural practices for drinking water.
In return for their efforts, breeders are thus offered new outlets such as school catering.
Our agriculture dossier
In addition to this, you need to know more about it.
In Rennes and in fifteen other towns in the metropolis, the canteens are already serving the products of around twenty local farmers and a new public market will soon be launched with even more ambitious objectives.
"The breeders want better remuneration and this is quite normal and we must find them opportunities and new outlets so that they join our approach", underlines Carole Le Blechec.
Because unlike their pigs, Breton breeders do not want to end up on the straw.
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