Travel blog about Western European farmers

by Peter Erik Ywema

Who? Arie Maris(55) & Jacolien(54)

2 sons

Where? Langeweg (The Netherlands)

Mixed (conventional)Farmer

70 cows. 63 ha

200 meat cows/year

Farming since: 1998

Farm in the family since: 4 generations; next generation coming

Arie: 'I clearly see the impacts of climate change over the years; heavier rain and I need deeper drainage to get the water off my fields '

Who? Alex (59) & Anneke van Hootegem

1 son (planned successor) and 1 daughter

Where? Kruiningen (The Netherlands)

Arable crops Farmer (organic)

145 ha (50 % alfalfa and clover; 50 % potatoes, green beans, carrots, beet)

& active webshop ( home delivery)

Farming since: 1983

Farm in the family since: 1860

Alex: 'We [organic crop farmers] need a supporting community to help develop mechanical weed management, like robots. Marketpower for this is lacking'.

Who? Dirk (52) and Els Boeren (51),

2 kids, son (25, successor?) and daughter (21, home)

Where? Deurle (Belgium)

lettuce & leek Farmer

4 ha, 3 lettuce crops /year

Farming since: 1986

Started from scratch (loved their veg garden)

Dirk: '"Many farmers have grown too big under the pressure of higher volumes. I have always remained a family size farm and could fully control quality and have almost no loss from seed to final product'.

Who? Herve Duclos and Denise Fougeray,

4 children (all flown out)

Where? Saint-Michel-d'Halescourt (France), 16 ha/ 250 ton apples

Apple Farmer, producing cider, apple juice, pommeau and calvados producer

Farming since: 1984

Likely succession...

Denise ' We have sheep in the orchard as 'tondeuse organique'. They maintain the grass, keep the mice away and fertilise the trees'.

Who? Séverine (46) and François(47) Guimond, 3 children (2 at home)

Where? Villiers-sur-Mortagne (France)

Farming since: 2001, François took over a pig/cow farm with one employee from his father (in the family since 1748!); He had worked elsewhere before.

He had to stop in 2012, due to low pork prices. Now Séverine is 'the farmer' (sheep/honeybees, B&B) and François works in Paris.

'140 ha is not enough to make a living here, and you must farm in an industrial way. But we wouldn't want to live in Paris.'

Who? Sylvie Plessis, (her husband, Christian, sadly passed away unexpectedly), 2 daughters (out of home)

Where? Rochefort-sur-Loire (France),

15 ha of vineyards

Farming since: 1992, started with 3 ha. Determined to continue.

Sylvie (after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry): 'Pour ce qui est de l’avenir, il ne s’agit pas de le prévoir, mais de le rendre possible….'

Who? Christian Gouin, Guy Constant (62) and his successor son David and Dominique Lauraine (and my hosts Vanessa and Tim who kindly invited these 3 'viniculteurs)

Where? Saint Seurin de Palenne, (near Cognac) (France), resp. 15/31/21,5 ha of grapes for cognac production. Cognac is back after a decline. 98 % for export (US and Asia).

Farming since: All three have been wine farming all their lives.

Dominique: 'You have to look constantly after your vineyard. It doesn't work when you don't love it'.

All: 'We harvest 15 days earlier than 20 years ago. We clearly see climate change and more extreme weather.'

Who? Tony Martin(23) and parents

Where? Braud et Saint Louis(France), 30 ha of grapes for wine production (conventional; machine harvest). He farms with his father and mother (and some seasonal workers)

Farming since: He just started after a specialised viticulteur school and traineeships all over France. As an single child it was always obvious that he would take over the work of the vineyard that his grandfather started in 1970.

Tony: 'Climate change gives us more sun and sugar in the grapes and therefor a slightly higher alcohol percentage. We now have cidadas here, that we never had.'

Who? Pierre (55) and Beatrice (55) Ardoin (and father (84)); 3 daughters

Where? Saint-Martin-Lacaussade (France), 22 ha of grapes for wine production (conventional; machine harvest).

Farming since: 1990. They took over the family 'chateau' from his father (who still helps). Beatrice does the administrative work. Family succession is unclear at his moment.

Pierre: 'The top chateaus are all in the hands of investors. One ha of a Pommerol vineyard does now more than one million euro, while here it is 20.000.'

Who? Hubert (47) and Nathalie (47) Daron; Son and daughter

Where? Camblanes-et-Meynac (France), 15 ha, but only 6 with grapes for wine production ('bio' but not with a label; not needed and not possible due to neighbours who do spray).

Farming since: 1994. They took over the 'chateau' that was bought by his father in 1977. The wine making and cows were outsourced to a local farmer. Hubert downsized the production and now does all farm and winemaking alone. Nathalie rents out the chateau for weddings (25/year!) and a gite. Family succession is unclear.

Hubert: 'Next week I am going to have my 6-year audit and they are going to tell that my 36 year old vines should not be 3 meter apart but 1 or 2...we have crazy rules for wine growers here.'

Who? Garikoitz Nazabal (33) and wife

Where? Zaldibia (Spain); 60 beef cows and 150 calves on a few ha, but a 'common' of 11.000 ha with 14 mountain villages and 125 farmers(sheep, beef and goat). 'Almost bio' but no label; not added value because most is locally sold and customers know the farm.

Farming since: 11 years

Garikoitz: 'We share a lot of things in our community of farmers, our communal meadow but also machinery.'

Who? Osinalde Hsier (43) and wife (and 3 children)

Where? Ormeiztegi (Spain); 300 sheep/ 230 for milk on 25 ha/ 8 for growing feed. They produce 6000 kg Idiazabal-cheese . 'Almost bio' but no label; not added value because most cheese (DOP) is locally sold and customers know the farm.

Farming since: 16 years on the farm the family farm of his wife.

Osinalde: 'I like my work, but not the increasing amount of paper work. Currently I spent 10 hours/week.'

Who? Daniel Alfonso (agricultural adviser) and Mabel Oyono

Where? Haro, capital of the Rioja Alta(España)

Bodega, since 1859. 30 % own and 70 % of the grapes are grown on a contract base on plots between 0,5 ha to 20 ha.

Farming since: >150 years

Since 90-ties rapidly grown

Daniel: 'Our biggest challenge is climate change. It's hotter, dryer and we have a bigger disease pressure . At the same time we [ and our market] want to minimise our chemical inputs. We need 'to dance with climate change', other ways of pruning, earlier harvest and more carefully watching out during the season.'

Who? Antonio Garcia Sierra

Where? Villoria, (near Salamanca)(España)

Farmer of grains and potatoes and trader in dried animal manure

I have only spoken shortly, while he was sorting potatoes for local sales. Most of his [potato] harvest had to go to waste because the price in supermarket was lower (!) than his cost price. Wasting is cheaper!

Antonio: 'We can't compete with the French supermarkets that buy French subsidised potatoes and sell it here.'

Who? Sarah Denie (NL) & Simon Evitts(UK) , with 2 kids (3 and 4 years)

Where? San Nicolas del Puerto (España)

When? Incubating: since a few years, paperwork and clearing the terrain. Currently planting 100 fruit trees on 10 ha of land in the Sierra Norte. The place is abandoned hydro-electric power plant from the beginning of the 20st century, that was overgrown by shrubs.

Sarah: 'I have tremendous respect for farmers, but I dont feel like being one. We are more 'land managers' with multiple activities, some farming, energy, tourism, education and perhaps most import 'revitilizing a community'.'

Who? Ricardo Sanchez, with his mother and one employee. His wife and 2 daughters live in Seville.

Where? Cazalla de la Sierra(España)

Mixed ecological farm; 65 free-roaming Iberian pigs, 130 sheep, 45 goats, 20 hens and rabits, vegetable, grapes, olives and cork

They run a B&B and small restaurant based on their own products. They also sell directly to a consumer group in Seville.

Farming since: 1982 (when his parents bought the farm)

Ricardo: 'The rules make it impossible for small farmers like us to produce. Applying for subsidies is so complicated that we don't do it and to sell my 10 cheeses/week I have to send 5 to a lab for testing. '

Who? Marta and Monte

Where? Cazalla de la Sierra(España)

Sheep and (Iberian) pig farmers. More importantly they have set up run an association aiming to attract and keep young people engaged in the region Sierra Norte. With Whatsapp-groups, an annual village run, and much more they revitalise 10 villages. In 2 years they have brought 144 people together.

Marta: 'The old farmers are tired of bureaucracy and corruption. We want to discuss and improve the conditions for new entrepreneurial farmers to start new activities by building new bridges.'

Who? Sara Gallego Valle

Where? SDan Nicolas del Puerto(España)

1500 Sheep and 500 (Iberian) pigs on 450 ha in the Sierra Norte. Sara studie pharmacy and lived abroad, but decided to come back to the (5th generation) family farm that she runs with her father and brother and 3 employees.

Sara: 'Many of my pharmaceutical friends do not understand my choice to go back to our extensive pig farm, but I missed this (so called 'dehesa') environment. My 'office' looks different every day.'