The renewal of generations is a crucial issue. Taking over a farm is very complicated at the moment. We need to ensure a return on investment for those who take over, and this requires more resilient farms. We farmers need to regain control of our economic decisions. More resilient farms are also a lever for food sovereignty.
As a child, while on holiday on the farm with his grandparents, Damien Lecuir was convinced that farming would be his profession. He therefore embarked on agricultural studies and, with his BTS in animal production in hand, in 1996, he planned to run a farm. But his parents were not farmers themselves, so taking over a family farm seemed impossible. So he did his first apprenticeship at the farm of the Lycée Agricole du Robillard, in Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives. Following this training, he chose to continue his studies at the ENITA in Clermont-Ferrand, then at the ENSA in Rennes, from which he graduated in 2003 as an agricultural engineer from the Ministry of Agriculture, with the desire to become an agricultural entrepreneur. But the obstacle of taking over the business resurfaced. Damien Lecuir was recruited by the Bergerie Nationale de Rambouillet to manage the farm and its team of twenty-five employees. This exciting experience as a farm manager lasted two years, the time it took for Damien Lecuir to finally find a farm. It was with a partner, in 2006, near Bayeux, that his wish came true, with a dairy farm. From that moment on, Damien Lecuir was convinced that, like any entrepreneur, he had to constantly adapt his farm and his activities to changes in agricultural techniques and trades, as well as to changes in the markets. Damien Lecuir often talks about resilience, and this is not an empty word. Taking into account society's demand for a more sustainable agriculture, the need to control economic choices and the regaining of a certain autonomy are, in his eyes, the determining factors in the life of a farm. In 2011, Damien and his partner diversified their activity by creating a Farm Work Company, convinced that contract work is one of the solutions to secure investments; then in 2017, duplicating the formula of temporary work in the agricultural world, he added to his range of activities a group of employers. Finally, last year, the two partners founded GEM' Agri, which offers farmers a range of advice essential to farm management. At the same time, driven by the desire for farmers to regain control of their economic choices, he became president of the Danone Producers' Organisation in the dairy basin. He thus took part in the negotiations that led to production costs being integrated into the price of a litre of milk, a few years before the Egalim law. Meeting with a disruptive farmer who accompanies the breeding project and joins the HECTAR training team.
It is a story of meeting a team of people with different backgrounds, sometimes totally outside the agricultural world, but all of them have a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, with a desire for a more sustainable and resilient agriculture. Add to this the fact that HECTAR intends to contribute to rebuilding bridges between, on the one hand, the agricultural world and, on the other, society, which has become distant from food and living things over time. I am delighted to be part of a project that links "the fork to the fork, the stable to the stall".
The idea of restoring the site to its dairy vocation, which is conducive to milk production, was an obvious one, particularly in response to the desire to put soil conservation back at the heart of the system and to bring resilience to the farm. To make the most of the soil and climate conditions, we decided to put a herd of sixty Normandes and a dairy there, to rely on the complementarity with field crops, and to manufacture dairy products on the spot, as the proximity to Paris offered outlets. We wanted to show that on this scale, it is possible to put livestock back into production while keeping control of investments. Livestock farming and processing make it possible to absorb market fluctuations and to face up to climatic and health hazards by providing greater resilience."
"Rebuild bridges between, on the one hand, the agricultural world and, on the other hand, society, which has drifted away from food and living things over time.
A low-cost, low-tech approach, with simple equipment, minimal investment and a human dimension to start a virtuous circle. Furthermore, we are going to practise monotraite in order to respect the rhythm of family life. This profession must inspire the younger generation outside the farming world and not be considered as a sacrifice of family life. We also choose to maximise grazing for animal welfare. A cow is a herbivore, it prefers to graze in the meadow than to eat Brazilian soya in a shed.
Train both cowherds/handlers/employees and farmers/pastoralists/entrepreneurs to develop the pairing on farms. There is a great need to train farmers and milk processors.
The age pyramid is such that the renewal of generations is a crucial issue. Taking over a farm is very complicated at the moment, apart from the transfer of a family farm. So we have to ensure a return on investment for those who take over, and that means making farms more resilient, more autonomous, and on a human scale. We farmers must regain control of our economic decisions, so that we are not dictated to by international markets. For example, at the Godets dairy, we have an objective of protein autonomy so as not to depend on inputs. However, the challenge is also autonomy on a national scale. We have seen with the Covid crisis that the security of food supplies is not guaranteed. More resilient farms are a lever to regain a certain food sovereignty. Our job is to feed the population.
Be bold and optimistic.
