On the day of slaughter, the ritual is the same. Tom Rampazzi, at the head of a farm of around twenty cows, sends a message to his customers. The latter know that they will have to quickly collect their packages of freshly cut meat directly from his farm, in Massillargues-Attuech, a small town of 700 inhabitants located south of Alès, in the Gard department.
The breeder's economic model, based on direct sales and mixed farming, is undermined by the announced as inevitable closure of the Alès slaughterhouse. Built in 1962 by the city under municipal management to accommodate a production of 5,000 tonnes of meat per year, the establishment has struggled to be profitable for several years.
In 2022, the slaughterhouse changes status to become a mixed economy company combining public (51%) and private (49%) capital. But the following year, the slaughterhouse only saw 2,900 tonnes of meat pass through. Not so law of the break-even point, estimated at 3,500 tonnes annually. But the difference resulted in a deficit of 350,000 euros that year, leading to its placement in receivership. In the absence of a buyer by the end of January 2025, liquidation could be declared, leading to the de facto end of the slaughterhouse.
« Today, I am twenty kilometers from the slaughterhouse. The half-hour journey is already tiring for the cows. Spend an hour and a half to go to Aubenas, in Ardèche, at 120 kilometers, would be a disaster for animal welfare. Not to mention the financial cost and time, I'm already underwater “, deplores Tom Rampazzi.
The crisis in local slaughterhouses is a national phenomenon. In 2003, France had 400 establishments. In 2022, only 234. “Since the start of the year alone, five establishments have gone out of business”notes Yves-Pierre Malbec, member of the “slaughterhouse” commission of the agricultural union of the Confédération paysanne. “Their closure is often linked to the departure of large traders who move to another establishment. Small suppliers then find themselves without tools unless they travel hundreds of kilometers. »
Short circuits under threat
In Alès, after the broadcast by the L214 association of videos showing animal suffering, large customers turned away from the slaughterhouse, causing its activity to increase from 5,217 tonnes in 2014 to 2,663 tonnes in 2018. In 2021, only four chevillards produced 80% of the tonnage, making the structure, which employs 25 employees, dependent on its largest suppliers. “When one of them, Alès Viande, went bankrupt, the whole ship sank”explains Olivier Villain, free-range pig breeder.
Unpopular because it symbolizes death, a slaughterhouse nonetheless remains an essential link in the agricultural and agri-food sector. Its disappearance would disrupt the diversification dynamic of Gard farmers.
« In recent years, mixed farming and livestock farming has been developing. Wine growers, due to the current wine overproduction crisis, have started raising livestock to develop wasteland and gain added value on their production. », Explains Patrick Gravil, president of the Gard cattle union, behind the creation of a local meat label Bovigard.
Cooperative takeovers
According to figures from the mixed economy company of Alès-Cévennes slaughterhouses (Semaac), nearly 38% of cattle slaughtered come from farms in Gard or neighboring departments. A figure which rises to 95% for sheep and goats. Over the last three years, 938 customers, including only 15 slaughterers, have called on the slaughterhouse according to the Gard Chamber of Agriculture. Even if they represent less tonnage per year, it is the small breeders, those whose meat is processed and sold locally, who are the most threatened by the disappearance of an infrastructure initially designed for industrial production.
Faced with the same profitability issues, the neighboring slaughterhouses of Vigan and Tarascon, each located approximately 70 kilometers from Alès, were taken over by breeders in the form of an agricultural collective interest company. The first is entirely managed by the breeders who slaughter their animals themselves, while the second has managed to keep the fifteen employees on the job.
Will they be able to absorb the 938 customers of Alès? “There will inevitably be some who will be left behind and it will be a disaster for our landscapes and our local economy”alerts Patrick Viala, president of Mas des agricole, in Nîmes. The butcher's shop of this supermarket reserved for local producers (6.5 million euros annual turnover) offers meat from which animals have been slaughtered in 80% of cases… in Alès.
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