Porte-Greffe, Gironde’s agricultural test space

Context

In 2008 France had 514,000 farmers. In 2018, there were 448,500, a third of whom were over 55. Going into debt to buy land and cultivating it is far from obvious. So if we add to that the administrative management it can quickly become a headache for those who want to retrain or settle as a producer.

Project

The Association Porte-Greffe allows anyone wishing to try the experience to experiment and learn how to set up their project.

Porte-Greffe is an association created in January 2017. It took over from the pilot test space at La Ruche du Médoc, led by Agrisud ( an NGO campaigning for the training of populations in the principles of agro-ecology) during 3 years. This handover was accompanied by a change of scale, the association carrying out activities throughout the Gironde, including in the area of ​​the metropolis of Bordeaux.

The association is part of the RENETA network (National Network of Agricultural Test Spaces) founded in 2012 following the emergence of a phenomenon dating from 2007 - the agricultural test space - allowing those who want to become a farmer to test their project while being autonomous. The network brings together 80 member associations and around fifty test spaces. RENATA is financially supported by the Terre Solidaire Foundation, which campaigns for the construction of a society which sees progress and economic and social development in a way that respects nature, women and men and the limits of the earth.

The association focuses on market gardening and small fruit projects.

The functioning

The activity test must allow a project leader to test one or more "full-scale" agricultural activities without taking the risk of the investment and thus concentrate their efforts on the technical and economic aspects of their activity. As part of an activity test, the project leader is autonomous in his decision-making.

"It's about testing yourself and not being tested"

says Jean-Baptiste Cavalier, national coordinator of RENATA

Porte-Greffe will then support the professionalization of those who want to get started in agriculture. A professional will then be the sponsor, the tutor of the project leader. Communities also provide significant support. Indeed, for people not from the agricultural sector, the success of the project depends on the ability to integrate into their territories. This is the case of Guillaume Burnel who knew how to build up his basic clientele thanks to the two years spent on an agricultural test space at Porte-Greffe. "I didn't know that you could have a human-sized farm and make a living from it," he told the magazine Faim et Développement de Terre Solidaire. In the Médoc, the territory is mobilized through the search for land opportunities so that project leaders can  establish themselves after their activity test period.

The members of Porte-Greffe are then able to support project leaders to enable them to:

• Train and be supported in the definition and organization of their activity creation project related to agricultural production
• Test their project by focusing on technical and economic objectives
• Fit into their territory and thus develop their project

The association therefore makes plots available to these new farmers for one year through a twice-renewable contract. In addition to space outdoors or in a greenhouse, the association also provides a financial endowment of a few thousand euros for the first purchases and technical assistance in accounting.

Thanks to these projects, new farmers can make mistakes without risking losing everything. Between 2016 and March 2019, out of eleven project leaders welcomed by Porte-Greffe, four dropped out. 

Results

Since 2015, 11 project leaders have been / are supported in activity testing

• 1 in 2015
• 2 in 2016
• 6 in 2017 (including one in second year of testing)
• 7 in 2018 (including 4 in second year of testing)
• 6 in 2019 (1 in third year; 1 in second year, 3 in first year, 1 during installation)

Currently 5 test projects are underway.

The Little Extra

To discover the 60 members of the RENETA network in France and Belgium click here.

Written by Thomé Orenga, LFC volunteer - March 2020.

Last modification : 02 Apr 2020.