CAP should nurture organic

Aid could ally social and environmental aspects with healthy production

Rural topic(s): Agroecology and agroforestry

Type: Réflexions de membres du FS ou d’autres acteurs locaux

Date of writing: August 27, 2012

Author(s) of the proposal: Pierre Pujos

Context:

French organic farmer Pierre Pujos describes how field and farm sizes have grown in the area around him during the last 15 years, hitting farmer numbers, eroding top soils, ruining soil quality and destroying local biodiversity. The ex government crop chemicals scientist blames the associated increase in mechanisation and capital outlay to the overall effects of the EU Common Agricultural Policy.

Text:

CAP should nurture organic

CAP should nurture organic: aid could ally... por ForumSynergies

In addition to the CAP’s physical effects are the social ones, not least in rural depopulation and further declines in the numbers employed in farming.

He argues instead that the CAP should favour human-scale farms and encourage organic farming practices that are suited to local conditions. In the case of the Gers, Pujos has found success in experimenting with shallow cultivation techniques on 80 hectares of land. He plants mixed cereal and leguminous crops to help loosen compacted soils, improve soil fertility, increase organic matter content and local biodiversity. The approach limits tractor passes, saving money on machinery investment, wear and the costs of diesel and chemicals. So while farm income is modest, so are costs, boosting margins per hectare.

The region suffers chronic soil erosion problems, made worse by the heavy clay soils, fields on slopes and conventional farming techniques that leave the earth bare for extended stretches.

Pujos argues for CAP policies that favour agro-forestry – the mixing of trees and crops in single fields – and replanting grubbed native-species hedges around fields to retain soil moisture, encourage temperate micro-climates and offer animal and plant habitats.

Comments:

An innovative organic farmer who has built up his knowledge base from a grounding in conventional crop science.

Notes:

Author visit on August 20, 2012 that included extended conversation, questioning and video interviews in the context of the Sustainable Mystery Tour 2012.

Contact:

Pierre Pujos, is an individual farmer who is also a member of, and supplier to, Biocoop Les Jardins D’Augusta in Auch, southwest France. www.biocoop-auch.fr/presentation. (arbre-et-paysage32.com)

Informations:

Scale of intervention : Local

Keywords: organic farming, agricultural policy, agroforestry, Sustainable Mystery Tour 2012

Places: France

Actors: farmer