“I was waiting for you.” Behind the desk of his now former Ministry of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau looked back on Monday, September 23, on his 2,169 days “and nights” within Macronist governments. The adventure ended for the centrist when he handed over the keys to the ministry to Annie Genevard, MP for Doubs and Secretary General of the Republicans.
The elected official, who was mayor of Morteau between 2002 and 2017, was entitled to a few courtesies from her predecessor whom she met a few years ago within the Association of Mayors of France (Marc Fesneau was mayor of Marchenoir in Loir-et-Cher between 2008 and 2017). Between two philosophical flights on the importance of time in agriculture.
“I want the first results to be seen quickly in the farmyard”
“I know that you come from a rural and agricultural area,” he introduced her, after citing some constructive debates on agricultural texts with the woman who was his opponent in the Assembly. Message received for Annie Genevard who was quick to set her priorities. Without rushing. “I want the first results to be seen quickly in the farmyard,” said the Doubienne in her first speech as minister. “The context is very particular,” analyzes Annie Genevard, citing the health crisis in livestock farming, the overflow or lack of water among some farmers, the need for regulatory simplification, reduction of prohibitions and the drop in yields “which weakens farmers.”
“I never give up”
The minister from Franche-Comté, who has crisscrossed her territory in all directions over the course of her twelve years as a parliamentarian, also gave a nod to her lands. On Saturday, while waiting for her nomination, she was still in Haut-Doubs for an agricultural show. She has attended 120 in total since her first election. “Going into the field, going to see, perceiving, that’s my method,” she recalls, “I never give up.”
To Marc Fesneau, she also cites a significant visit to Pontarlier on October 22, 2022, when the agricultural world of Haut-Doubs was in mourning over wolf predation and the death of cows in the Mouthe sector. “You were right to remember this moment,” she says to the centrist. The wolf will be at the heart of the livestock summit which is due to begin on October 1is October in Clermont-Ferrand and where Annie Genevard will go with her ministerial cap. As a woman well informed on the subject.
Its regional prides
Haut-Doubs, again, was given the honours when Annie Genevard praised “Morteau sausage, Comté, Morbier, Bleu de Gex and Mont d’Or”. Her regional pride. “Pride is not just personal”, she admits, “it is that of the farmers and inhabitants of Haut-Doubs where I come from”. They enter rue de Varenne with her, just like the “women farmers, a key part of the sector”. The subject, dear to the MP, has in fact become one of the minister’s priorities.
