A collective supported by two agricultural unions denounces Safer’s choice to transfer 47 ha of land, in Viam, to Foncière agricole. La Foncière wants to install a farmer and one hectare of photovoltaic panels there.
In Corrèze, we are not yet having an aperitif together around photovoltaic panels. A collective of around ten people (neighbors and village residents) opposes a decision by Safer (Land Development and Rural Establishment Company)
of Corrèze which allocated agricultural land, located in Viam, to Foncière agricole. Rural Foncière, whose project consists of the installation of photovoltaic panels on the ground: “No, not on the ground,” cries Tony Cornelissen, the former president of the Chamber of Agriculture and creator of Rural Foncière, “not panels on the ground but in agrivoltaism, that is to say that under the panels, there will always be an agricultural activity, a food production”. Still! The Defense Collective of La Buffatière (the place where these agricultural lands are located) accuses Foncière agricole of preparing “an industrial photovoltaic power plant project” and Safer of not working on its missions “for the maintenance and consolidation of agricultural holdings”.
“It’s a bit of an attack”
Conversely, Tony Cornelissen affirms that the Foncière “is required to install a farmer on these lands allocated by Safer, that the project aims precisely to support the farmers for additional salary…”
But Valérie Pigerol, the representative of the collective, says she “doesn’t believe it at all”. She, who is also a neighbor of La Buffatière, considers it “an attack to learn that we are going to be isolated in the middle of photovoltaic panels”. Even if she also recognizes that personally, she will not see these signs. “But I don’t know if there will be one, two or 40 hectares. »
The collective (supported by the two unions Modef and Confédération paysanne) also denounces the choice of Foncière agricole to the detriment of another candidacy, that of a farmer from Haute-Vienne, Marie Broutin.
The managers of the Foncière agricole say they contacted this farmer, whose application was rejected, to offer to install it on these 47 hectares of La Buffatière.
Consultation deficit
“This is false, I have never been contacted by Foncière,” says Marie Broutin today who, moreover, believes that Safer unfairly favored rural Foncière.The collective of opponents still relies on deliberations of elected officials, that of the town hall of Viam and that of the community council of Vézère Monédières Millesources, “against the installation of photovoltaic panels on agricultural land”. (See below)
. However, these deliberations should not have the force of law in the face of future decisions by the prefect to enforce the Aper law of April 2023. A law which requires a “significant acceleration” in the development of solar energy. As a result, photovoltaic installation projects are springing up almost everywhere.
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Tony Cornelissen, president of the Corrèze Chamber of Agriculture: “Photovoltaics on buildings is the moment” (October 2023)
And Foncière agricole is not the only local player to position itself on the production of solar energy. The PNR Millevaches, after launching a campaign to acquire photovoltaic kits, supported an association, Courant Citoyen, which offered the “citizen residents” of Peyrelevade the same approach as that proposed by Foncière agricole to farmers, but on the roofs . But Courant Citoyen is now on hiatus: “This association was the foreshadowing of an SAS, a civic society which involved individuals in the production of solar energy,” recalls Manon Campenet, project manager at the PNR. But doing photovoltaics on roofs is not as easy as that, there are technical problems, connection problems, roof structure problems….”
No controversy
On this issue of Viam and de la Buffatière, the Foncière agricole has made it known that it does not want to argue and even put forward its arguments. The managers of the Rural Land Office regret that Modef and the Peasant Confederation “did not even wish to listen to a more detailed presentation of the Land Land’s objectives”.
Strangely, in this La Buffatière issue, all the stakeholders mention a lack of consultation.
Arnaud Besnard The PNR will reflect and give an opinion.
On the perimeter of the Millevaches PNR, elected officials from Viam and the V2M intercommunality took deliberations against the installation of photovoltaic panels on the ground. But is the difference between ground panels and agrivoltaic panels clarified in these deliberations? “We have more and more elected officials who are wondering and who are questioning us about agriphotovoltaism,” indicates Manon Campenet, Energy/climate project manager within the PNR, “and this is normal because it is linked to questions about agricultural land, landscapes, biodiversity, etc..” The PNR has therefore looked into this issue of agrivoltaism and, according to Manon Campenet, could soon make public an opinion “on what is acceptable and what is not”. An opinion which would take into account around ten criteria studied
