For the fourth edition of the national agricultural days, nearly 1,500 events were scheduled throughout France, and 130 in Occitanie. The ambition of the national agricultural days is to raise awareness of everything that agriculture brings to everyday life: diversified production, food excellence, territorial dynamism and food sovereignty. This event is also an opportunity for professionals in the sector to highlight the quality, diversity of their activities and the reality of their professions. In 2024, these days are supported by Nicolas Chabanne, founder of the collective brand “Who’s the boss?” ! » and placed under the sign of food education. In Lozère, the Hyper U in Mende has therefore decided to open its aisles to producers with whom the store works regularly to “put faces on products”.
Producers highlighted
Élovel, the red fruits of Coste, the Clavel butcher shop, the Mazet farm, or the Ebes farm, located in Saint-Étienne-du-Valdonnez, etc. all responded to the invitation from the director of Hyper U to promote their products and interact with consumers for a morning.
For the Gaec de l’Ebes, created in 2014, these days were an opportunity to present the most recent products from their farm, yogurts made within the Invitation à la ferme network, which they joined in June 2023. The same year they decided to upgrade their dairy farm to an organic label; they are therefore in the conversion phase.
A network that Myriam and Lionel Coulomb joined because “it completely corresponded to our values”. This network of organic and independent farmers allows each farm to transform its milk on site into organic and farm yogurt, farm cheese or ice cream, which it markets in a short circuit and primarily locally within a radius of 80 km. At the Ebes farm, the herd of 45 mothers is mainly made up of Montbéliardes, which produce 260,000 liters of milk per year, delivered to Biolait. “We plan to transform nearly 35% of our milk” for these farm yogurts, explains Myriam Coulomb, between two consumer tastings of the well-stocked yogurt range. The farm has 152 hectares, including 102 hectares of natural meadows and 50 hectares for cereal cultivation.
The Invitation à la ferme network was born in 2005, in the head of Jean-Michel Péard, founder of the brand. After its infancy, the label really took off in 2015, around a few organic dairy farms already engaged in processing between Vendée, Loire-Atlantique and Ille-et-Vilaine. In 2024, the network, which represents nearly 40 farms in France and continues to quietly expand nationally, is present in 2,000 points of sale and represents nearly 260 employees and farmers. Among the products offered are cheeses, ice creams and yogurts made from cow’s milk, sheep’s or goat’s milk.
