Juliette Mély, edited by Alexandre Dalifard / Photo credit: AVENET PASCAL / HEMIS.FR / HEMIS.FR / HEMIS VIA AFP 9:00 a.m., February 4, 2024

In the midst of an agricultural crisis, farmers are denouncing the difficulties encountered in their profession, particularly the renewal of generations. Business transfers can take up to 10 years until a successor is found. As for Rolland Moissette, milk producer, who cannot find any candidate to take over.

Ensuring the renewal of generations of farmers is one of the government's promises. A major ambition because many farmers cannot find buyers. Business transfers can take up to 10 years until a successor is found. Rolland Moissette, 53, was a milk producer. Reluctantly, he made the decision to sell his 100 hectares of farm. But no candidate came forward to take up the torch. Europe 1 went to meet him in Lavau in the Yonne department.

“I have no leads, no visits, nothing”

“There, we are in front of the part that was food and housing. It’s all empty, that’s how it is. There’s nothing left,” laments the milk producer. In the stable, only the hay remains. Rolland, a farmer for 30 years, sold all his cows last year. “I fought, but today I'm throwing in the towel,” he admits at the microphone of Europe 1. Riddled with debt, 600,000 euros of unrepaid loans, Rolland decided to sell his farm in the summer last, but no buyer knocks on his door. "I don't see economically, in current conditions, how someone could buy and continue to work. For me, it's impossible. Impossible. Today, I have no leads, no visits, nothing ", worries the producer. 

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And time is running out, he is giving himself one year to find a successor. “Today, if I don't manage to give in and if I don't find anyone, it will be a liquidation like an average company. It wasn't planned like that, but hey, the goal was to go as far as 'retired here,' he says, with tears in his eyes. At 53, Rolland will have to change careers, abandon his farm, his house and 25 years of memories. In the canton of Saint-Fargeau, where Rolland operates, only one milk producer remains. Over the past 30 years, six farmers have stopped their dairy activity without finding a buyer.