two Landes producers receive the prize of excellence

In the Landes, the duck is quite a symbol. But above all, the producers excel in this area. That's an understatement, since two Landes producers were awarded the prize of excellence at the 2025 General Agricultural Competition. The ceremony takes place on Tuesday January 21, rue de Varenne in Paris, at the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.

SCEA of Haut Pouyet

The SCEA (1) of Haut Pouyet, in Saint-Aubin, is one of the winners, in the category “Products from fatty palmipeds, rillettes and dried duck breast”. At its head, Vincent Laborde, 58 years old, including forty-one within the family farm, helped by two employees. This multi-awarded duck producer did not expect to be awarded the prize of excellence. Over the last three years, at the General Agricultural Competition, the SCEA du Haut Pouyet has obtained the 2024 gold medal for its sliced ​​dried duck breast and the 2023 silver and 2022 gold medals for its pure duck rillettes. Vincent Laborde was unaware that a category common to these two types of products existed.

According to him, the secret to the quality of his products lies in the passion for the profession and working with small quantities, with 4,500 ducks per year. Vincent readily admits to being a perfectionist, with control from A to Z: “No rillette is put in a can until I have tasted it. »

It is accompanied by his son Anthony, 17 years old and future buyer of the farm, that Vincent Laborde goes to Paris to receive the prize awarded by the Concours général agricole. These excellent rillettes and dried duck breast are sold on the farm (at 385, route de Beyries, in Saint-Aubin), at farmers' markets in summer and at Christmas markets in winter.

SARL Le Canard at Degert

The second Landes duck producer awarded is a regular at the prize of excellence. This will be the third trophy of this type for SARL (2) Le Canard chez Degert, in Clermont. This time, it will be for his fresh duck breast. Éric Degert, 57, pays attention to the awards he wins, just like his clients. “In general, the consumer does not know what the price of excellence is. He was more accustomed to medals,” he confides. This “farmer above all”, who took over the business from his parents Josette and Michel, is no less honored: “It’s a pleasure, it rewards the fruit of a lifetime’s work. »

This repeatedly awarded operation has around twenty employees, divided between the SARL for processing and the SCEA de Mondenx for production. According to Éric and his wife Caroline, there is no doubt, only “love of work” and authenticity make Landes producers famous. The Degerts' personal touch: lots of non-GMO corn, aged animals, and free range “as much as possible”.

The products are sold within the farm (at 650, chemin de Mondenx, in Clermont), at the Le Canard chez Degert boutique in Dax (at 23, rue Saint-Pierre) and at the summer markets on the Landes coast.

(1) Civil agricultural company.

(2) Limited liability company.

The 2025 Excellence Awards

It is this Tuesday, January 21 that the 2025 prizes of excellence will be presented in Paris by Jérôme Despey, president of the International Agricultural Show, and Olivier Alleman, commissioner of the Concours général agricole, in the presence of Annie Genevard, Minister of Agriculture. Since 2000, these prizes have honored the know-how of winegrowers, breeders and artisans whose products have been awarded prizes during the last three editions of the competition and display the best ratio of medals in the product category in which they were concerned.
This year, seven neo-Aquitaine producers will be rewarded in Paris: the SCEA du Haut Pouyet located in Saint-Aubin (40), category of fatty palmipedes, foie gras, dried duck breast; Le Canard chez Degert in Clermont (40), fatty webfoot category, fresh duck breast; SA Château Fontaine Saint-Cric in Saint-Aignan (33), Bordeaux wine category; the Merlet et Fils SAS distillery in Saint-Sauvent (17), aperitifs and fruit creams category; the Ferme de Gagnet in Mézin (47), mistelles and flocs de Gascony category; the Les Fayes dairy in Limoges (87), dairy products, smoothed fresh cheeses category; and the Duroux dairy-cheese factory in Rilhac-Xaintrie (19), dairy products, cantal and sheep's tomme category.
Valérie Deymes