Margaux Fodéré, edited by Alexandre Dalifard 06:15, March 01, 2023

While 350,000 positions are vacant in the agricultural sector, the Aprodema association, which promotes trades and training in the agricultural equipment sector, has set up a tractor driving simulator at the Agricultural Show.

Objective: to attract young talent to these trades in technology and the operation of agricultural machinery.

No sector is immune to recruitment pressures… Agriculture is one of them.

Today, more than 350,000 positions are vacant in the sector.

Farmers, stockbreeders, tractor drivers or mechanics… These so-called agro-equipment professions are in tension.

Open this Saturday, the Salon de l'Agriculture is the ideal meeting place to seduce young people and attract them.

And why not, with a tractor driving simulator?

This is the attraction set up by Aprodema, an association that promotes trades and training in this agricultural equipment sector.

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Young profiles who are rare

This simulator gives the impression of being in the cabin of a tractor while sitting on a moving seat.

At the front of the machine, a fork to pick up hay with the same controls.

"Three pedals, accelerator, brake in the middle and the clutch on the left", details a farmer at the microphone of Europe 1. Opposite, three screens offer a 180 degree view.

You have to place the bales of hay on a trailer, explains Quentin, an apprentice farm supervisor and presenter at the stand.

"It's just like a video game. On the screen, you can see the number of bundles left to pick up and also the time," he says.

At the controls of the simulator, Maxence, a young high school student.

"He's doing well. For driving it's already good", analyzes Quentin.

And for good reason, this is not the first time that he has tried the exercise.

"I have my grandfather who is a farmer in Auvergne. Since I was little, I have been working on his farm. I am a bit like my grandfather's idea, that is to say, to do what we likes", admits Maxence.

But passionate profiles like this high school student are increasingly rare.

These professions are struggling to recruit, recalls Mathilde Mari, general secretary of Aprodema.

"Driving is a showcase. Afterwards, we also mainly talk about technical professions, engineers and maintenance technicians", she specifies.

Today, 1,500 positions remain vacant in technical trades and the driving of agricultural machinery.