The workload of a farmer, not to mention the mental load of a mother, Céline Monaco, a farmer from Berria who joined a job sharing group, can attest to this. Every day, she is on the meadow or in the workbenches to take care of her dairy sheep, her cows and her Basque pigs. Thanks to this new replacement system put in place by the Onetik and Etxaldia cheese factories, accompanied by the Berria, AEK cooperatives and the Departmental Federation of Replacement Service 64 (1), the farmer in the Aspe valley will be able to take some days of rest and to breathe with his family. Once the replacement farmer, who has been training for two months, will be able to replace her with her animals.
“This is the agriculture of tomorrow, I am more serene in my work,” she breathes. This is a real plus, because in the previous generation, we did not easily hand over the reins, not even to our children, our grandparents and parents never took vacations…” The situation has obviously changed at the start of this year. 21st century and young farmers feel the need to have a real family life and to be able to rest from time to time.
“By pooling a producer between eight breeders, we are able to breathe without feeling guilty about being absent and we can manage to do necessary things that we were unable to give time to until now,” says Céline Monaco.
Emilie Drouinaud / “SO”
Officials of various parties engaged at the press conference on farmers’ holiday.
The discussions were very positive
“This system is even fundamental, and in any case, we are forced and constrained to it if the agricultural sector wants to regenerate, find employees, it already starts with this service, the farmers must be able to leave their farms, says Armand Jouanjus , president of the Federation of Departmental Replacement Service. Here in the Basque Country, it was quite easy to set up, but other cooperatives elsewhere have not succeeded. Exchanges between Basque dairies have been very positive. »
“We produce cheese, we need milk and our producers are in good shape, with this system where the collective comes first, it’s a win-win for everyone,” rejoices Louis Gervoson, from the management of Onetik , which invested some 100,000 euros in the project, which therefore allows the replacement of a breeder during their leave. To date, five full-time and permanent job offers have been launched, in order to meet the identified needs of producers.
A sensible subject
“This is a step forward for us,” says Beñat Saint-Esteben de Berria, “because it is a very sensitive subject and it was time to act! Today, being listened to and heard by our dairies is important, because together we find solutions! These are permanent positions so it is a real advantage for these replacements who can experience different production methods. For the farmer, it is also one, since he really knows the person who replaces him on his farm. It is therefore a sustainable solution. »
Eddy Cussac, from the management of Etxaldia, another initiator of this project, confirms: “We are family and cooperative cheese factories in which breeders and cheese makers are interdependent. The foundation of a cooperative is to share common values which are: mutual aid, fairness and solidarity. Today, our breeders find themselves facing a dilemma which pushes them to prioritize their work over their personal lives. We are aware that if we do not support our cooperators, this situation will get worse and young farmers will abandon this vocation. »
(1) This aid allows breeders to benefit free of charge from an employee who will replace them for a whole week and two days to take leave.
Five permanent offers
This initiative which allows breeders to take vacations, launched this spring with the two cooperatives, quickly aroused interest among many producers who took up the subject. Among them, 43 of them have even integrated this approach by forming employer groups which, through shared employment, have made it possible to launch 5 permanent job offers, four of which have so far been provided. These 43 breeders are today divided into five groups, made up of 6 to 11 farmers and are grouped by geographical area according to the location of the farms. Each group has committed to hiring a full-time permanent employee whose hours will be distributed among everyone throughout the year.
