ERLON, France – French farmer Jean Demazure can rightly claim to have an inside view of both the North American and European styles of farming.
He thinks the North American model is too one-sided and too market obsessed.
“I heard about people losing their farms, suicides.”
He shakes his head. “That has to be bad for the country.”
For 19 years, Demazure has been married to Mary Kay, an Illinois native whose father was an executive in the farm supply business.
He has visited the United States and talked to farmers. “They are nice to me, or maybe they are just being nice.”
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But back on his close to 1,000 acre farm northeast of Paris, farmed with his brother and partially owned by other family members, the 49-year-old recognizes the benefits of the European system of support for farmers.
“With too much subsidy, people become lazy,” he said in his farm living room. “But farmers need to be able to make a living or only the worst managers will stay.”
Financial breakdown
Under the European Union’s common agriculture policy, Demazure makes a good living.
With his brother and family, he has a mixed farm – 170 hectares (420 acres) of wheat, 135 hectares (333 acres) of sugar beets, 40 hectares (99 acres) of barley, 12 hectares (30 acres) of rapeseed, 50 hectares (124 acres) of feed peas, 13 hectares (32 acres) of peas for human consumption and 22 hectares (54 acres) of potatoes.
The potatoes are sold through a local co-operative that has contracted with Canadian-owned McCains, which sells them to McDonalds.
By his own calculation and using an approximate conversion of 4.2 French francs to the Canadian dollar, Demazure’s wheat land produces the following results:
- Yields between nine and 10 tonnes per hectare for total wheat production of between 1,530 and 1,700 tonnes.
- A market price this year of 600 French francs per tonne, just under $150 Canadian, for market income of close to $220,000. (Some EU analysts suggest he probably received 650 francs, based on guaranteed price levels.)
- A direct European Union subsidy of 2,400 francs (more than $550) per hectare for subsidy income of close to $93,000.
- Variable production costs per hectare of 1,800 francs ($420) or $76,500 for the 170 hectares of wheat land.
In that area of France, analysts figure fixed costs add another 3,000 francs per hectare (approximately $715.)
It means a farm profit on the wheat crop alone of approximately $100,000 Canadian.
Demazure and his brother do not operate a typical French or European farm. They are more than seven times larger than the average 60 hectare French farm and nine times larger than the EU average of 50 hectares.
They farm in one of France’s most productive regions where yields far exceed the average of between six and seven tonnes per hectare.
“We have the land and the climate for wheat and sugar beets,” he said. “And the support allows us to use the land well, to farm intelligently.”
He said French farmers expect some trimming of prices and income in future years, as EU farm policy changes. But he warned that politicians must be careful.
“We will compete,” he said, noting that in recent years as guaranteed prices have fallen, input costs on his farm have been trimmed almost 20 percent.
“We can become more efficient. But if incomes fall too much, the intelligent farmers will leave for something else and the ones who stay will just be interested in producing as much as possible, whatever the cost to the land.”
Demazure buys into the “European model” vision of farm support. Farmers do more than produce commercial products. They maintain the countryside to pass on to their children.
In this lush region of France, the land has been passed from parents to children for more than 2,000 years.
His family has been in the area for centuries. An ancestor is recorded in 1680, caring for the horses of the nobles. The family bought the core of his farm 150 years ago. He and his brother have expanded it steadily during the past 20 years.
Demazure is active in the French farmers’ union, one of the most militant in Europe.
“Everybody has to defend their own interests,” he said. “French farmers are known for yelling.”
For related stories see page 20.
