Farmers are empowering themselves to solve the crisis in agriculture
Ashoka’s Anais Petit explores how farmers are reinventing their industry by empowering themselves as food industry entrepreneurs
The Paris International Agricultural Show began on Saturday, February 27th, amid widespread disputes within the agricultural sector. While industrial groups and government officials struggle to find a solution to this crisis, a new face is bringing change. Introducing Fabrice Hégron, farmer-entrepreneur and founder of En Direct des Éleveurs (Direct from Farmers).
Today in France, milk producers are no longer able to make a living from their work. Revenue from sales does not cover the cost of production or farmers’ salaries. Economic problems are causing producers to abandon their work and leave it to large food industry groups, often to the detriment of product quality and the transparency of production chains.
“Protesting is not enough; we must invent a new model.”
Fabrice Hégron is the son and grandson of farmers from Pays de Loire. He has witnessed first-hand the decline in milk producers’ quality of life and the loss of hope on family farms in the face of large industry groups. Given this discouraging situation, he decided to take action, refusing to give up or submit to pessimism. “I have seen since the beginning of the milk crisis in 2009 that protesting isn’t enough,” he explains. “The solution cannot come just from the French state or other European assistance. The sector must reinvent itself. It must revise its economic model and put in place a cost-effective model that rectifies social and economic inequality and responds to consumers’ current needs for market transparency.”
A New Model
Supported by other farmers from the Loire-Atlantic region, Fabrice Hégron launched En Direct des Éleveurs. The goal: to create a short production model that integrates all parts of the value chain, from production to sale. In this model, the farmers are organized into a society whose finances and strategic developments they manage collectively; the farmers are no longer just agricultural entrepreneurs, but food industry entrepreneurs. Together, they produce, transform and sell nutritious, locally sourced, and environmentally friendly milk that enables them to support themselves through their work.
Under industrial production, 35% of the price of a bottle of milk goes back to the producer, 42% goes to the milk producer, and the rest goes to the distributor. The average salary for milk producers is around 600 euro and nearly one-third receives RSA, a form of governmental income assistance. By reducing the middleman and setting fair pricing, the En Direct des Éleveurs model has the potential to triple producers’ salaries in a matter of years.
When farmers become entrepreneurs
In order to make this model work, the farmers are trained in entrepreneurship, marketing, communication and dairy plant management. “They go from ‘I can’t do this’ to ‘I’ll try to do it’ to ‘I’ll do it’”, explains Fabrice Hégron. “Taking back their profession is a way of taking back their daily lives. They regain confidence, transforming and becoming entrepreneurs of their own lives.” The pilot group consists of 21 ranchers who will produce and process their milk in a dairy plant that will open this year in Remouille in Loire-Atlantique. The milk will feature attractive, environmentally friendly packaging and will be sold in over 250 supermarkets throughout the region at a price that is fair for both the consumer and the producer.
Seize the opportunity to change production and consumption
The goal is to reach 50 ranchers in the region by the end of the year, to duplicate the model on the ground and above all prove that this approach can be applied to other agricultural products. “The importance of this project is the idea that producers can become more financially and intellectually autonomous, all while selling better products,” explains the entrepreneur, adding that “we must speak directly to farmers and convince them that there is another way of life available to them, that they can do without the intervention of the large agricultural banks and industrial groups. Despite these obstacles, there is great demand for an industry revival among producers and consumers alike. I am convinced that therein lies the solution to the agricultural crisis in France.” A model that, in these challenging times, can revolutionize a flagging system.
Anaïs Petit, Ashoka
Translated from French by Katherine Ehni.
