PHOTO: PHILIPPE CALDIER
PHOTO: CH. GILLES
PHOTO: PHILIPPE CALDIER
FARM REPORT ▶▶▶
Going big in France: Aiming for 400 cows
The GAEC des 3 Communes has become one of the main dairy farms in the Burgundy region with an expected milk production of 2.2 million litres, this comes as a result of a merge in February last year with a dairy farm of 130 cows located in a village 5km away.
BY PHILIPPE CALDIER E Profile
• GAEC des 3 Communes and GAEC de la Ruelle merged on 1 February 2019
• 320 dairy cows (280 milking cows + 40 dry cows) • Milk quota: 2.8 million litres milk/y • Milk production (forecasts): 2.4 million litres • Average milk production/cow: 7,700 kg • 7 associates • 1100 ha crops • Milk price average: € 0.33/l (Target : € 0.39/l) • Gross operating surplus (2019 forecast) : € 500 000 (instead of € 350 000)
• Goal: to reach 400 cows
All the associ- ates have a weekly meet- ing every Mon- day morning after milking. From left to right : Thomas, Christophe, Frédéric, Fabi- enne and Orly.
18 ▶DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 7, No. 1, 2020
ringes is a small rural village in Burgandy, France, lo- cated 60km north west from Dijon (situated in the Burgundy and Côte d’Or department). “When the Ag- ricultural Farming Association was set up in 1973 on
the basis of three farms located in three communes: Ménétreux-le-Pitois, Eringes, and Fresne, hence its name
(GAEC des 3 Communes = Gaec of the 3 Communes, a GAEC is an Agricultural Farming Association),” explains Fabienne Lepy, one of the associates. In 1993, Fabienne’s brother Chris- tophe, joined the GAEC. Following in his footsteps Christo- phe’s son Thomas also joined in 2008. Before merging with the GAEC de la Ruelle, which is another dairy farm located 5km away, the GAEC des 3 Communes op- erated 710 hectares, and its two main productions, cereal and dairy, had an annual turnover of € 1.2 million. Crop produc- tion included wheat, rapeseed and barley, with a total of 470 hectares and varied buyers (Dijon Céréales, Soufflet and Bresson Céréales). The rest of the crops, of alfalfa and maize, were for animal feed. “Our two production sectors are extremely dependent on the economy, forcing associates to continually adapt and grow,” says Fabienne who is focused on milk specialisation.
A natural merger “We started to talk about a merge two years ago already,” ex- plains Orly Courvoisier, from the GAEC de la Ruelle. “Together we bought a harvester and a slurry tanker in 2010,” states Orly, who adds that her partner Frédéric’s accident a year ago (a quad accident) accelerated the merger process. “I found my- self alone taking care of the farm with a lot of stress,” she says. “Our two structures needed manpower,” says Christophe. At the weekly meeting it was decided unanimously to merge the two farms. “The merger went smoothly,” says Fabienne. “We are a com- plementary and interchangeable team,” adds her brother Christophe. “Now I can take a weekend or two to go on vaca- tion,” says a smiling Orly. Many other benefits are emphasised by the associates: better
Ecological transition contracts (ETC)
The Ecological Transition Contracts (ETC) is an innovative approach of the French Government to support the eco- logical transformation of territories. It illustrates the meth- od desired by the Government to support local establish- ments in co-construction of territories with ecological transitions, generating economy and social opportunities.
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