Each year, Brittany sees the establishment of between 650 and 750 young farmers. A figure which varies little but which is above all insufficient to compensate for the numerous retirements. To remedy this, the first French agricultural region wants to increase by a third the number of installations of young farmers, said the president of the region Loïg Chesnais-Girard on Monday, the day before.
of the opening of the Space, a large livestock fair held in Rennes from September 14 to 16. The objective is clear: to ensure the sustainability of the agricultural sector and to prevent farms from growing.
In Brittany as elsewhere, the number of farmers has steadily declined in recent decades. The region had 37,650 farms in 2007, according to figures from the Regional Chamber of Agriculture (CRA). That number fell below 26,000 this summer. A problem that worries, especially when we know that 52% of farmers will retire within ten years.
Hope there is. Emblem of green algae ten years ago, Saint-Michel-en-Grève has seen strandings drop significantly. How? ‘Or’ What ? Explanations⤵️https://t.co/3K9GU7XJEg #Brittany #Agriculture #pollution @20 minutes #greenalgae
– Camille Allain (@CamiAllain) June 9, 2021
To remedy this, the regional socialist majority intends to install 1,000 young farmers each year. “One of the risks, for lack of recovery, is the expansion. If the farms are too large, there is no possible recovery (because of the cost of land) and we are moving towards financialization. We want transmissible family farming. We want to remain a land of agriculture and we want to install the children of farmers, ”says Loïg Chesnais-Girard.
Brittany provides nationally 57% of pigs, 41% of eggs, 1/3 of chickens and 22% of milk collection. This concentration of production creates thousands of jobs in the food industry but also leads to environmental problems, in particular the proliferation of green algae in certain sectors of the coast. However, there is no question of overhauling everything. “We must reaffirm that breeding is not an enemy of the environment,” recalls President Loïg Chesnais-Girard, who wants to make his region the leader “in agroecology”. Currently, “one in three installations is organic,” adds the vice-president of agriculture, Arnaud Lécuyer.