This is the youngest in the operation to block Gironde wine growers, organized this Monday morning in Langon, an hour southeast of Bordeaux. And, with his beautiful green jumpsuit, he is teased a little by his elders who push him to put himself forward.
Lucas, 22, is the son of a winegrower based in the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur appellations, and despite his passion for this profession, in which he has been immersed since childhood, he is having a lot of difficulty settling down. He tells 20 minutes how he regains a little hope with the farmers’ movement initiated last week by the FNSEA and Young Farmers (JA) unions, for better pay.
Why did you choose to participate in the movement?
I am in the process of setting up on seven hectares, in the Sauveterre-de-Guyenne area, where I plan to grow vines and some cereals. But it is very difficult to settle, because the interest rates are very high and the markets are not valued. Like other children of winegrowers, I have been helping my parents since I was little, but, even if it is a passion, we have to make a living from it and the prospects are less blurry.
I can’t even take out a salary to settle down and that’s why the banks don’t want to follow me. If we follow their logic, I would have to take more hectares and recruit workers, even though I cannot pay myself a salary. While waiting to be able to be self-employed, I work for my father and for another castle.
What do you think should be done as a priority to improve the situation of farmers?
It would first be necessary to enforce the Egalim law (supposed to protect farmers’ income from agri-food manufacturers and mass retailers) and offer French products on major markets, before resorting to imports. To help young people settle in, we must offer them zero-interest loans. When my father, who is 50 years old, was setting up, there were thirty others with him in the sector, today there are only two of us.
We also need the support of the State and the EU to remove ecological standards. We are for ecology but not for punitive ecology. I have been to Spain and Ukraine, and I can tell you that we have the cleanest agriculture in the world. We have to treat, sulfate and weed, otherwise we cannot feed France. We must stop saying that wine kills and that it is polluted: we do not choose to treat but we want our piece of bread at the end. When there is, like this year, strong pressure from mildew (a fungus which attacks the vines), we are obliged to treat. I think that at some point, with the JA, we will have to go to Brussels.
Why was viticulture not very visible until then, in this movement?
Some are ashamed of the situation they find themselves in, that’s why they haven’t joined us. The union of winegrowers is taking place but not necessarily with farmers in general. In Gironde, at one point it worked well, and it took us a while to realize that it was no longer working. The image of burgundy is a little distorted. Today, you can find bottles for 1.50 euros in supermarkets, which is scandalous, because that’s not even the price the wine in them costs us. I think that the planting of French wines, outside the areas demarcated for AOCs, has harmed the sector, because they are not subject to maximum quantities and have flooded the market. Movement brings me some hope and comfort. We love our job and we will do everything to get there, but will we still be here in 20 years?
In any case, Lucas was leaving this Monday evening, by bus, to reach the capital and make the voices of young farmers heard.