Luzeal including 140,000 tonnes of alfalfa pellets. The St Remy on Bussy site harvests 3,700ha of alfalfa producing around 40,000 tonnes of bales. Eric Masset is both the presi- dent of Luzeal and the Coop de France Dehydratation and grows alfalfa on his own farm. He said: “There are a number of benefits in growing alfalfa in terms of the crop’s protein con- tent and environmental advantages. We can successfully grow alfalfa for three consecutive years on the same land be- fore the yields start to decrease. This crop also ensures the lowest bee mortality rate as we leave strips of alfalfa around the outside of the fields. This is a good habitat for the bees and the farmers receive a payment from the European Com- mission for allowing it to stay,” he said. “During subsequent cuts we increase the numbers of strips left to provide even more areas for bee numbers to increase.”


Harsh drought period Eric runs a 200 hectare farm of which 15% is used to grow al- falfa and the remainder for a variety of grain crops. He reports some of his grain yields fell this year due to the harsh drought period. “Our wheat yielded 9.5 tonnes per hectare this year, winter barley was 8.5 tonnes, rapeseed was around 3 tonnes


and spring barley was 8 tonnes per hectare,” Masset said. “Normally the alfalfa would yield around 14 tonnes per hec- tare but this year being so dry the average yield was down to 10 tonnes per hectare. We harvested each cut after 45 days of


Profile


Name: Eric Masset Location: St Remy on Bussy, France


Eric Masset is both the president of the Luzeal dehydration co-op and the Co-op de France Dehydration. He grows 30 hectares of alfalfa on his 200 hectare grain farm as well as barley, wheat and rapeseed. He harvests up to four cuts of alfalfa on his farm each year for drying into pellets and bales. These are then exported all over Europe and beyond as a high protein feed for mainly cattle and horses. Masset is just one of the 1,850 farmers that supplies alfalfa to Luzeal. Alfalfa has proven to be a very successful alterna- tive to grass this year as it grows well in drought periods.


▶ ALL ABOUT FEED | Volume 27, No. 9, 2019 23


The alfalfa is im- mediately dried after harvesting.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28