Charismatic leader of agriculture in Manche, Pascal Férey will retire

See my news
Follow La Presse de la Manche

Charismatic leader of Manche agriculturePascal Férey will chair Friday November 22, 2024 its last session of the Manche Chamber of Agriculture.

He presides over this consular chamber since 2013 but has been a member since… 1989 ! An entire volume will close.

I am a completely normal farmer but motivated by what I do.

Pascal Férey will retire from farming as of December 31. The farm he managed with his wifein Marchésieux, will be taken over by one of their two employeesKevin Yon.

He will therefore not represent himself in the elections of the Chambers of Agriculture whose vote is planned end of January 2025.

A long career as a committed elected official

“I will no longer devote myself to my family. I am 66 years old. I have contributed 196 quarters, from July 1975 to today. » Like his fellow farmers and contrary to what many believe, he worked a lot on his farm, often very early or very late.

Because he carried out in parallel a long career as a committed elected official. “You have to work, you have to love what you do. I am a completely normal farmer but motivated by what I do,” summarizes the one who got involved, barely settled.

My parents were in the JAC (Christian Agricultural Youth). In 1976, the year of the drought, I participated in the distribution of straw with Michel Lepourry. In 1977, fuel oil was subject to quotas with the oil crisis.

National mandates

Pascal Férey already sat in the Manche Chamber of Agriculture in 1989 as a representative of Young Farmers (CDJA at the time).

He was also an administrator of the Tribehou cooperative of the 1983 until becoming president before the merger with the Cotentin Dairy Masters in 2000.

Pascal Férey was president of the FDSEA of La Manche de 1995 to 2013. He was general secretary of Young Farmers at the national level (CNJA at the time) in 1992 (“With Christian Jacob, I took care of Europe and Overseas”), administrator of the FNSEA (national level) in 1996deputy secretary general in 1999 and in the office until 2013.

From 92 to today, I have always had the same subjects: environment, health, hedges, breeding.

The two most difficult moments

Even though he experienced the mad cow crisis and well mobilizationsPascal Férey retains two difficult moments. When he left office at the CNJA in 1994 and the milk crisis in 2009 where the peasants were laughing at each other “in the face (sic)”.

« It was violent. My wife was guarded by the police for 15 days. But the price of milk is not the FNSEA that does it. Everything that was broken in 2009 has never been rebuilt,” laments Pascal Férey.

On Friday, other experienced elected farmers will bow out, such as Marc Lecoustey. Philippe Pontis, in the employees' collegealso. The elected officials still in place will still continue to sit on the committees until the final installation of the next mandate by March 20 environ :

We deal with current affairs, we do not undertake any investment.

Then, however, Pascal Férey is not going to stop all activity overnight. He will complete his mandates at the FRSEA of Normandy and at Ceser (Regional Economic, Social and Environmental Council). “And there is no shortage of proposals. »

Whether we like him or not, Pascal Férey knows his files and often demonstrates of relevance on agriculture and on society in general.

On the session menu

On Friday, elected officials will have on the menu for their last session: a opposition deliberation at thefree trade agreement with the Mercosur countries; there simplification administrative ; structuring a supply of chipped wood for power the Manchese wood boilers ; l’access to fiber optic for all farms; THE drinking water resource management plan ; the subject of replenishing water in the Sèves and Baupte peat bog or even the arrangementsof the Coutances-Saint-Lô, Granville-Avranches axes and the South-West bypass of Cherbourg to support the economic developmentand allow farmers to work.

On Monday, November 25 in Caen (Calvados), it will also be the last session of the Normandy Chambers of Agriculture for the 2019-2025 term.

Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.