Sustainable Agriculture, Choosing the Environment for Young Agronomists
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Camille Guyot hesitated to testify. She was afraid of being presented as “lost sheep”. The 33-year-old Lauren and her companion embarked in 2019 on an agro-ecological farm project in the Brienne region, between Limoges and Tours. They apply principles of permaculture to design cultures and places of life that respect the environment and living things, with one goal: to better feed humans.
An ambitious project that Camille Guyot has been implementing for several years and which has earned him the title of idealist in his engineering school. Because before this return to the land, Camille Joyot studied agronomy in Nancy. “The first time I met the principal, he said to me: Come to my school, you will face the reality of the agricultural environment.”you remember.
She takes him at his word. But these years of learning how traditional farming works and what drives them does not lead her to abandon her project. On the contrary, they strengthen his will to switch to other modes of production, hidden during his cycles. “Ten years ago, in agronomy school, we were told about organic farming, but very little about ecological farming and even less about sustainable farming”she regrets.
Good performance in a small area
The fault, according to her, is in the imaginary vision of sustainable agriculture: “For years we associated it with Bobo delirium and reduced this type of culture to a poorly maintained bohemian garden.”, sums up Camille Guyot. She herself is reluctant today to use this term, which the townspeople love, but which the neighboring farmers wary of. “However, sustainable agriculture is based on scientific observations and very careful regulation.”, explains the young woman, who sees it as a logical continuation of her career as an agricultural engineer. The knowledge she gained during her studies allowed her to analyze the environment in which she wanted to set up her farm: the climate, the exposure, the quality and characteristics of the soil, the plants, animals and insects that live there…
Many elements thanks to which she was able to define the type of culture she wanted to establish. With her boyfriend, she has set up an organic market gardening operation. They planted hundreds of trees, aromatics and small fruits according to the principle of agroforestry (which consists of tying up trees and crops for better yields). They also raise chickens, whose droppings are used as natural fertilizer, on rotating lawns. They created ponds and ditches to irrigate plants and promote biodiversity. All this complex system allows them to perform well on a small surface.
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