Arnaud DELESTRE

For him, no doubt that agriculture is a real issue to produce quality food. As nowadays the need to bring back the “sovereignty” that would restore the image of the “Farm France” – now ranked sixth in the world – is increasingly being evoked in the French economy somewhat it has been battered after the repetitive waves of COVID and its multiple impacts.

Optimist by nature, the Speaker of the Agricultural Department Chamber of Yonne says he is very happy to meet the challenges…

Sixty people helped in 2022…

An optimist by nature Arnaud DELESTRE? Yes, he likes to define himself this way when he talks about this sector important to him, agriculture and its many derivatives are part of his position of president of the ad hoc consular chamber. A chamber that continues to have the wind in its sails and that remains a force of proposal in many respects. Both to help young people who want to settle and older ones who are planning to sell their farms sooner or later.

He was the first to be surprised by this enthusiasm for the professional opportunities offered by the sector. “We are helping more and more people who want to settle,” he says, “about 60 at the end of financial year 2022, which is a progression of 10 to 15 locations compared from the previous year…”

Increasing retraining needs…

Who would have thought? While the agricultural sector is going through major crises after the events attributable to the health crisis and the surge in commodity prices not to mention the the energy crisis!

A trend that has been confirmed by the frequency and the the number of visitors coming to inquire about the settling desks located in our territory. In the last twelve months only, more than 250 contacts have been registered!

Is it possible to speak of a “green wave” that would come and shake the coconut tree in our countryside with such a craze of the youngest – or even more advanced in age – but in search of a retraining and of a desire for something else?

People in their forties, sources of the future…

The profile of these converts of the last hour is rather interesting. Many people in their thirties and forties have family and even professional ties to the territory of Yonne. But, the remainder is totally hermetic to this Yonne primacy. With a preference for neighbouring Ile-de-France or elsewhere.

That’s for sure, adds Arnaud DELESTRE, these people who project themselves into agricultural life do not want to settle down and start a new life by taking back 300 hectares of cereals! Their projects are viable but much more segmented on direct sale of products from cattle, goat or sheep farming…”

Turning cattle into goats farming …

To convince the sellers that their land still has a future is not as simple as it seems. Yet this is what the services of the Departmental Chamber of Agriculture meet among its sovereign functions.

“A farm can be transformed by a new farmer into a market garden,” says Arnaud DELESTRE, “because the latter allows it. It is also possible to moult a farm that used to house cattle into goats and sheep farming. This is something that is increasingly popular in our campaigns these days…”

Organic food is losing ground to local products…

In Yonne several structures operate this way, with success, admits the president of the consular chamber. From five to six annual meetings with the sellers are organized by the technical services of the institution in order to always propose solutions which enable the sustainability of the agricultural tool in Yonne.

The only downside observed by Arnaud DELESTRE is the organic sector, which is really suffering despite a period of improvement during COVID and the successive lockdowns, especially with the niche market of milk. With more production than demand, professionals wonder about securing their outlets by developing them before seeking new conversions. But the decline is here indeed. Since 2015, the demand for organic conversions is drastically decreasing. The cause of this paradigm shift of consumers who have turned to local products – the short supply chain works rather well in our department – rather than persisting in organic food, more expensive to buy.

Thierry BRET