N°34 – Sam’s way

Andelaroche, 2nd October
I’m the son of a farmer and I’ve never considered doing anything else. I think it’s the best job in the world. But I have to admit that today’s farming world is subject to a lot of constraints: spiralling debts and financial stress, dependence on industry, increasingly restrictive standards, very long working hours… It’s very difficult to get by.

And if, on top of that, you read the press headlines: “Farmers are polluters” or “We have to stop livestock farming altogether”, etc… You get that thrown in your face, which you don’t understand at all, and you can be left feeling very isolated and angry… That’s the case for a lot of people around me.

There’s a lot of false information circulating in the media, with images of intensive livestock farming from the 1980s that no longer exists today, for example…

As someone who is at the heart of the farming world, who lives it every day, I can’t understand why someone would accuse me of mistreating my animals. I believe I have a moral contract with them. From birth to death, we’re there, we take care of them, we feed them, we make sure they’re in optimum living conditions. We devote our lives to them and they are in our minds 24 hours a day.

There’s also the idea that red meat is bad for your health. On the contrary, it’s one of the rare foods that has the full range of trace elements – there’s not a single one missing! Of course, you have to consume it in moderation, but that’s the case for all foods, in fact. If you only eat carrots, you’ll have too much nitrate in your body. If you only eat pasta, you’ll have too much energy, and so on. It’s all a question of balance.

You have to maintain a sense of perspective! And that’s what I’ve dedicated my life to: re-establishing common sense, on several levels, from the way we produce to the way we consume.

I also aim to re-establish the lost link between farmers and consumers. I realised that 95% of what farmers say is not adapted to the general public. It’s too technical, too professional and it’s not really heard, because it’s not really understood.

If we could re-establish this dialogue, I’m convinced we could reach an agreement on a whole host of issues. It’s all a question of balance, once again.

Samuel

Samuel is a cattle farmer in the north of the Auvergne region. Passionate about his profession, he is waging a peaceful battle against the industrial superpowers, in favour of autonomous, ecological agriculture that cares about the welfare of animals, the living conditions of farmers and the health of consumers. He calls his philosophy “sensiculture”: the cultivation of common sense.

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