a collective of organic farmers prevented from setting up

On the banks of the Aubance and at the exit of the town of Denée, 20 km from Angers, the farm of the hamlet of Joncs was the dream of Marius Chauvin, Simon Coutand and Maëlys Dilé. Rich meadows adjoining the river for grazing Limousin cows, enough to grow cereals to make bread and vegetables. All in organic farming. Alas, the trio of thirty-somethings, who had moved heaven and earth since April, were refused access to these lands for the second and final time, on November 26, by the Land Development and Rural Establishment Company (Safer) of Loire" rel="tag">Pays de la Loire.

They wanted to take back the 168 hectares of a block. Instead, the farm will be dismembered and used mainly for restructuring and expansion of existing farms. On November 26, the board of directors of the regional Safer decided to allocate 139 hectares in this thorny issue to local farms united around Emmanuel Bertrand. 29 hectares were granted to installation projects: that of Mendy Lenoir in sheep breeding, that of Mathilde and Léna Dollé in cut flowers and to a market gardening project attributed to Marius Chauvin, taken alone from the trio of partners.

In question, « competition impossible to overcome, despite the efforts made by the departmental service of Safer »explained Rémy Silve, director of Safer des Pays de la Loire, to the press. Who added that agricultural land was a « passionate subject ».

Another thorn in the side of this issue: of the 168 hectares to be distributed, half was rented and not under full ownership. However, 6 owners out of a lot of 11 had expressed to Safer their refusal to rent their land to the trio Chauvin, Coutand and Dilé. « It is therefore the solution that appeared to be the most likely to respond to the challenges of installation and renewal of agricultural generations, while preserving a peaceful local climate. »added Bernard Bellanger, president of Safer Pays de la Loire.

Incomprehension

The Joncs farm was the subject of two competing files: that of the three thirty-somethings wishing to settle in — four initially, one of whom threw in the towel in the face of the hostility of the settlement context — ; and that of five local farms, which highlighted their need to recover plots of land close to their headquarters, to leave others further away.

A need for restructuring also forms an obvious agricultural issue, in order to avoid the multiplication of trips by agricultural machinery or to facilitate the resumption of pasture livestock. Which, however, went beyond the simple exchange of land in this case, with an expansion of several hectares in the process.

At the end of September, the land institution preferred the file of local operators, who had supported the installation projects of Mendy Lenoir and the Dollé sisters. A decision which had triggered the incomprehension of the thirty-somethings wishing to settle down, of the departmental section of the agricultural union of the Peasant Confederation… and also of the Draaf, the Regional Directorate of Food, Agriculture and forest. This representative institution of the State had asked Safer to review its copy, to « move from competing projects to complementary projects ».

Faced with this request, Simon, Marius and Maëlys offered land and a building to Mendy Lenoir, the hectares necessary for the production of cut flowers and were open to leaving other hectares for restructuring purposes.

What about the complementarities presented by the case opposite and those sought by Safer? ? « I won't quite answer your question on that basis. »kicked Rémy Silve into touch. For him, « the real competition that remained was between livestock installation projects, including one in conventional agriculture [celui d’ovins de Mendy Lenoir] and one in organic farming [celui du trio] ».

Contacted, the trio of farmers were stunned by this decision. « They designated me as the only leader of the market gardening project, even though we were thinking of doing it collectively. »Marius Chauvin is surprised. Decoupling his market gardening project from the livestock activity also seems inconsistent to him, even though they were counting on this complementarity to fertilize the soil and have access to equipment. The Peasant Confederation of Maine-et-Loire called for a new gathering on Saturday, November 30, in Angers.