“Our agriculture is very rooted”: Arnaud Viala inaugurates the department’s stand at the Agricultural Show

Arnaud Viala reste optimisme pour l'avenir de l'agriculture en Aveyron. D. R. – Y. PO.

Arnaud Viala, president of the Department of Aveyron, discusses the specificities of an agricultural territory geared towards livestock farming. A wealth that must be preserved through powerful public policies. 

You arrived at the Salon on Tuesday with a busy first day…

I was able to meet Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who promised us that he would come and see us in Aveyron, then I continued with the cheese salon. I met the leaders of the two races that welcome us: Aubrac and Lacaune. I had a working lunch on water management with the president of Lot and that of the Lot joint union, in charge of water, and the vice-president of the department of Lozère, the president of Cantal. 

Aveyron is suffering from drought ? 

It happened in the 2022-2023 season, not as much as in the Pyrénées-Orientales but we are suffering from climate change and we should be concerned about it today. ;hui. 

What is your message in this context of agricultural crisis ? 

To have strong support for our farmers who are engaged in very old, family-based approaches. The model of Aveyron agriculture is very particular, it is not the same as in neighboring territories. Our particularity is that it is very rooted in our territory. It takes a very close bond. I want to tell them that we put agriculture at the heart of our business. our policies. Water, as I told you, spatial planning, how we allow urbanization starting from agriculture so as not to constrain it, or territorial attractiveness because what makes Aveyron so rich is its gastronomy and the beauty of the landscapes that agriculture makes possible . 

There is also a lot of talk about fair remuneration… 

Which is a major and priority theme such as fewer restrictive standards. We are partners in their mobilization and their expectations through the prism of Aveyron specificity.

You have chosen to stay in hall 1 among the animals and not with the other Occitane territories in hall 7, why ?  

We are very attached to having this Aveyron presence in the breeding environment. We hold this partnership high, there is no need to see anything else in it. No tension with anyone. This is a choice that we made and we will reiterate it for future years. 

Transmission is a real subject ? 

This is why we are right to think that there is hope because Aveyron is installing nearly 200 new installations last year. I have the joy of seeing children of friends settling in who have, in their eyes, a passion for breeding.

Are you optimistic ? 

In the function entrusted to me I have a duty to be so. It's not blissful optimism, I'm involved in a collective, as the son of a farmer, I know this profession. We have two reasons to be optimistic: know-how and quality, on the one hand, and the attachment of the men and women who do this job with passion. 

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