• Agricultural incubators are developing in France.

    In Génissac in Gironde, the system has been welcoming a floriculturalist for a year and a half.

  • These test spaces allow people to technically test their agricultural project without taking too much financial risk.

  • The Reneta network is still seeking to improve support for neo-farmers.

There is enough to make a very beautiful bouquet. Fifty varieties of flowers over 3,600 m². And in the midst of them, Gabrielle Brault. The 28-year-old young woman has now been installed for a year and a half in the gardens of Génissac, between Bordeaux and Libourne in Gironde. But beware, temporarily installed. The one who was still working in tourism not long ago just benefits from the agricultural incubator set up in 2018 by the Ecosystem association, a Land for all of which Florence Ardouin is the coordinator. "These are test spaces reserved for neo-farmers who technically and financially experiment their project over a more or less short period (one to three years) before one day embarking on the deep end," she explains.

Today, these structures are "very fashionable", notes Charlotte Hubert, project manager at the Landes Chamber of Agriculture.

She takes care of an incubator with four people who is almost ten years old: “We were pioneers,” she smiles.

Basically, it's a great way to get your hands dirty before you know if you're made for it.

And above all the advantages are very numerous.

"We provide them with the land, the equipment and the technical support," explains Florence Ardouin, "the only expense on their account at the start is the seeds".

Although she has since invested in equipment, Gabrielle Brault admits that she "should have invested a lot more money" with a conventional installation.

A very flexible device to limit breakage

Today, the floriculturist, specializing in organic and cut flowers, makes a “very positive assessment” of the agricultural incubator:

" That suits me perfectly.

I was able to get equipment very quickly and things are going very well with the activity cooperative which carries the legal structure of the project.

The big advantage is to test yourself without taking too much financial risk ”.

What makes say to the coordinator of the association that "even if it does not work in the end, there is an exit which one can qualify as positive because there will be no breakage", with for example people in debt up to the neck as can regularly happen.

The CAPE contract (business project support contract) also allows new farmers to continue to receive unemployment or the RSA.

Annually, it is renewable three times which also makes it possible to stop or exit the device more easily.

For now, Gabrielle Brault sells her flowers twice a week at a market of national interest.

But after getting her hands on, she is now looking for land to permanently set up her business, Fleurs d'Aquitaine.

Further improve support

For associations, town halls and other chambers of agriculture, this "also helps to profile people to have people who hold the road", according to Florence Ardouin.

Charlotte Hubert receives up to 300 installation projects per year and in the end only retains a few really solid ones.

With the test spaces, for example, there are very few failures: “20% stop the first year and of the 80% who settle behind, 70% still have their operation today”.

Bordeaux: “A first large organic farm” at the gates of the city https://t.co/CB27djZxF5 via @ 20minutesBord pic.twitter.com/J0FbRoRxIR

- 20minutesbordeaux (@ 20minutesbord) September 1, 2021

On the other hand, in the Reneta network (National network of agricultural test areas), several people sometimes point to the lack of support.

“Even if help is important at the start, it is extremely important to have good support because you also have to know how to put the person in the right direction, insists Florence Ardouin, many people are now saying they are interested in the system. including town halls, but this should not be a simple provision of land.

There must be a whole frame around the person in these incubators ”.

In order to be accompanied as best as possible to take off perfectly on the big day ...

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