“With this unstable political context, we don’t know where we are going”: the Young Farmers of Hérault gathered in Roquebrun

Rémi Dumas, Annabelle Decoursière and Jean-Baptiste Bufflier: the office of the Young Farmers of Hérault. Midi Libre – Gaëlle Liot

Prefect François-Xavier Lauch alongside Jean-Baptiste Bufflier, in the Roquebrun cooperative winery. DR

The Young Farmers of Hérault meet every quarter at the home of one of their members to promote their activity. This Thursday, July 25, they had an appointment with the president of the Roquebrun cooperative winery, Jean-Baptiste Bufflier. The opportunity to take stock of aid for the profession, in the presence of the prefect.

From banker to winegrower, the professional success of Jean-Baptiste Bufflier was highlighted this Thursday, July 25, at the Roquebrun cooperative winery. Once a quarter, the Young Farmers of Hérault organize a farm visit to one of their members to highlight their sector. This time, the prefect of Hérault, François-Xavier Lauch, was invited. “He was able to discover the winemaking tool, bottling, our 1990 vintages. We also highlighted our structure on a human scale. We have more than fifty members, including thirty professionals. We sell between 18 and 20,000 hl/year in packaged”, confides Jean-Baptiste Bufflier, president of the Roquebrun cooperative cellar since October 2022 and treasurer of the Young Farmers of Hérault. Holder of a master's degree in finance, he followed training as a farm manager at the CFPPA (Agricultural Professional Training Center) then began his activity with 7 hectares of vines. He then joined forces to grow to 30 hectares today.

"You don't become a farmer by staying behind a desk"

"I was a banker, I had no direct link with oenology. I saw an advertisement for the sale of vines on the website of Safer (Land Development and Rural Establishment Company), I fell in love with it and I decided. spear. It was a way to put down roots in the area, remembers this native of Béziers. In his range of wines, we find several brands Zenith blanc, Absolu de Schiste, Infini de Schiste, Roches Noires. Land of red wine, the grape varieties used are diverse, white grenache, marsanne, roussanne, rolle. “We would like to be an appellation in its own right. Given the state of the market, it is not relevant to go organic."

"We need to give young people a place and show them that it is possible to make their situation sustainable"

For Rémi Dumas, the new president of the Young Farmers of Hérault (since March 8, 2024), winegrower and dairy sheep farmer in Saint-Geniès-des-Mourgues: "90 % of people who received the State grant for young farmers (before age 35) continue their activity 5 years later. We brought in the prefect to show that you don't become a farmer by staying behind a desk. It's a lot of questioning, we have to give space to young people and show them that it's possible to perpetuate our situation."
During this visit, current topics were discussed with the prefect on the general atmosphere in the agricultural world: the outcome of the proposals of the agricultural orientation law, the framework agreement on irrigation, inflation, concerns linked to aid from the State and the Region, winter water retention or even  controls of fruit and vegetables on stalls and on the side of the road. "Today, with this unstable political context and without a government, we do not know where the we're going", concluded Rémi Dumas.

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