Xavier Bonvoisin, Amandine Huyghe and Marc Westrelin, in front of the Hazebrouckois premises of the Arcade association.

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Nicolas Montard

  • Arcade helps farmers in difficulty in the Hauts-de-France region.

    In thirty years, moral support has taken precedence over technical support.

  • The association helps them move up the slope, but does not make decisions for them.

  • Arcade also supports traders and craftsmen of small structures.

    A sector that is particularly worrying in these times of economic crisis linked to the health crisis.

In 2010, Romain * was no longer doing it administratively.

Delays in his declarations, impossible to pay his accountant, the breeder was lost.

In the newspapers, he discovers the existence of Arcade.

Quickly, a duo from the association showed up at their farm in French Flanders.

A year was enough to put things right, but a decade later, he's still praising the action he's benefited from.

“I was on a razor's edge.

We can quickly fall on the wrong side.

These people help you, without judgment and without financial interest, by letting you make the decisions.

In a very individualistic agricultural world where the weakness of one can quickly be exploited by the neighbor in search of land, this is appreciable.

"

A great example of Arcade action.

This association, created thirty years ago, has for mission to support the farmers of Nord and Pas-de-Calais who are losing ground and are not getting by.

For example, a farmer who is in debt.

"We are going to diagnose, study solutions together, go to the bank," explain Marc Westrelin, vice-president, Xavier Bonvoisin, coordinator and Amandine Huyghe, technician.

And solve all the related problems, because it is often a whole.

If the account is not made, there are administrative delays, which therefore no longer give the possibility of access to social rights and so on.

Arcade thus covers both economic, personal and environmental aspects.

Support and not decide

A golden rule: Arcade accompanies.

The request must come from the farmer and the association, which always sends a volunteer pair (senior technician and agricultural engineer) on site, will not make a decision for him.

"If we consider that he is going into the wall, we can make him understand, but he remains the only master on board.

On the other hand, we support him in front of the various interlocutors, banks, agricultural social mutuality, etc.

It allows us to start from scratch with these structures, with which dialogue has sometimes become difficult.

“The support makes it possible to disentangle apparently inextricable situations: as when a debt displayed at 40,000 euros actually amounts to 8,000 euros, once the various increases have been subtracted.

Arcade, which is part of the Solidarité Paysans network, can also offer solutions to relaunch farming, for example with agroecology.

In three decades, things have changed, notes Xavier Bonvoisin: "We are using less and less technique to take more and more care of people ... We are really more in psychosocial risks, suffering at work, exhaustion, burn-out, suicide prevention… ”Discussion groups and theater workshops are also organized.

Four hundred and ten families are currently supported in the region, including 60 artisans-traders.

Since 2007, Arcade has indeed opened up to traders of small structures.

A sector that particularly worries the association following the long months of restrictions due to Covid-19.

* The first name has been changed.

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