A new lease of life for the Confédération paysanne

Young farmers take over. Recently, at the end of their general assembly, the members of the Confédération paysanne elected their officials and new faces appeared.

Sascha Vue (sheep farmer in Saint-Salvadou) and Sara Melki (horticulturist and arborist in Millau) replace Sébastien Persec and become its spokesmen. Boris Clémendot (sheep at Morlhon-le-Haut) takes over from Jean-Marie Roux as departmental secretary, while Francis Enjalbert remains treasurer.

Louise Fournier will find herself on the departmental committee. As for Sébastien Persec, he was elected to the national committee of the Confédération paysanne.

This new generation wants to be heard on issues such as the organic crisis, aid from the CAP or even pensions, an issue on which the agricultural union has and will mobilize.

“We also want to facilitate the settlement of young farmers, like us, and those who do not come from the agricultural world in particular.recalls Sascha Vue. We want to support the structures, facilitate access to land and aid”.

Emergency fund

At the same time, the new members of the bureau of the Confédération paysanne deplore the organic crisis which is hitting many farms hard. “Especially those who have chosen to convert recently, explains Sascha Vue. There is an urgent need to act and to continue the support policy that has been in place for several years. We regret the reduced endowment of the Biological Emergency Fund which will be 278,000 euros in the Aveyron, to be divided among more than 1,000 certified farms, or 278 euros per farm. Then only crumbs remain. It’s almost a contempt on the part of the government.” And the representatives of the Conf’ to denounce “the cessation of aid to maintain organic farming”.

Undoubtedly more than others, organic farmers are suffering from rising prices weighing on household wallets. “But we are not responsible for these increases, on the contrary, we suffer from them too.me, says Sascha Vue. We fear that many converted peasants will go back. If so, we will have wasted five years.”

A million peasants

Another cause for concern is aid from the forthcoming CAP. “If the substance has changed little, the form has become even more complicated. We also deplore the digitalisation of controls which will increasingly take place via drones and satellites. We are witnessing a dehumanisation of agriculture which we don’t want”the members of the office explain.

However, two subsidies are to be credited to Conf’: aid “joined with small gardens and small fruits” and “supplementary aid for young farmers”.

Two devices that will allow aid to be opened up to farmers who have small surfaces.

“Our goal remains that there are one million peasants in France, says Sascha Vue. We cannot always deplore the disappearance of farmers. We can do it differently and we have to give ourselves the means.”