La Volaille preferee des Francais

It's always good to see men digging holes and this time it was young farmer Oliver and his cousin that was trying to find the leaking irrigation pipe. As in the UK, France is very dry and the Sarthe region was already irrigating. Oliver is 21 and after completeing an Agricultural diploma has just started to farm with his parents (Marie-Armelle et Pascal LELIÈVRE) and has a 10% share in the family farming company. When another cousin and uncle had land for sale he managed to buy 20ha and rent an additional 30ha and this he has bought into the busines which now totals 180ha of wheat, rape, maize and sunflowers as well as a small herd of Limousin cattle to graze the river pastures and two houses of free range chickens (4000 per house 3 batches per year). Oliver hadn't taken up the government young farmer assistance to buy the land and grant scheme as he is hoping in the future that more land and maybe a house would be available nearby. Land in this area, like a warm Cambridgeshire, is around 3000 - 4000 euros per ha, much is irrigated but the farm owned very little equipment, relying on the machinery ring for everything except the tractor. Grain was all marketed through the co-op. The farm also had a Gite and a small B&B business. The same as most businesses I have visited, Pascal plans to get larger and specialise, Oliver is earning equity in the farm business while doing other work for a neighbouring relative to have an income to live on.

The chickens really interested me and I was expecting something exceptional as they have a protected geographical indication (PGI) . This is a EU legal definition of where they are produced and how, similar to the status Cornish pasties has recently gained. Label Rouge was developed for poultry through a collective, regional approach involving a region’s entire production sector, from poultry farmers to processing plants. The production of Label Rouge traditional poultry is thus deeply rooted in the French regions.To emphasize the importance of regional farming traditions, most Label Rouge poultry is identified by a PGI (Protected Geographic Indication), protected by a European patent. Currently there are 31 PGIs for poultry. They provide the “local touch” with a reassurance of guaranteed origin for those who eat the products and the promise of a special flavor that is very typical of each terroir.
The producers of “Loué” began to rear poultry under “Label Rouge” conditions in 1958. Actually, about 1000 farmers produce 28 millions of poultry and 160 millions of eggs per year and there are 150 different references of products from the whole carcasses to process products. It's not just chickens, but eggs, turkeys, ducks, geese and Guinea fowl all produced in an area near Le mans, spending some time free range, slow grown and fed local feed that has 80% cereal in. All the poultry are tagged for traceability, with a small metal tag applied at 4 weeks on the top of the wing. The chicken breeds can be all types including the funny naked neck birds and a bird similar to a hubbard. At Le Fresne they were grown to 90 days and free range for 7 or 8 weeks. they were in groups of 4,000 in fixed housing and had extensive ranges with good pasture cover. So pretty much exactly the same as the free range birds in the UK.
Asking a few french folk I met about Loué chicken it seemed a recognised brand that stood for quality and taste. I tasted a few as well and for a free range chicken they were pretty good, not anything exceptional with pretty much uniform taste on breast and legs (we strive for a differance between the white and dark meat). But the power of marketing is impressive with the Loué sign on farm gates and a great pride amoung the farmers that the regional chicken was the best, even driving down the motorway a sign anounces that you are entering the land of chicken and egg farmers.
In the UK, especially in the South West there has been a great revival of food provenance and interest in all things local. If We farmers could capture some of that French pride in what we are producing and market together maybe in future travelling along the M5 near Cullompton you would be greeted by a giant chicken or signs announcing that Devonshire really does produce the best poultry in the world.

A grande Ecole

Back in the old days at Harper Adams we sometimes had French students join our course for a term or two to improve their English and learn how brillant our farming was. One of the first students to come was Maryse, a brave and intrepid adventurer at a time when relaionships between French and English farmers was not good. If I remember rightly she mostly felt cold, but her English improved and we had fun showing her England, despairing of proving English food was better when on a Harper canteen diet we had to go home to my Mum's cooking. A few years later Nevil and I attended her wedding, a traditional 3 day french celebration where the only other English was her former tutor, Richard Waldron. Fast forward to 1999 Richard found us out on our own farm and since then we have regularly had french students for their 'stage' or work experience. Richard is a bit of a legend at ESA Angers who sadly died a few years back, but has left his legacy at the college where all students are English word perfect to 'Puff the Magic Dragon'
It was great to finally visit the college and meet with Richard's replacement Claire and see where the students study. In true student fashion (!) I have cut and pasted all about the college in English. I'm actually feeling sightly guilty as our current student's exam this week wil be presenting 10 minutes in English about her farming experience in Devon...... now there's a Nuffield idea for the October conferance.



With its 2,630 students, the Groupe ESA is the largest institute of higher education for life sciences in France. It offers a wide range of courses in 10 major sectors of activity : farming, food, landscape management, environment, horticulture, viticulture, retailing, trade, agribusiness management and town & country planning.

Within the Groupe ESA, there are four institutions and four research laboratories :

A ‘grande école’, ESA

which awards undergraduate and post graduate degrees (including PhDs) and the typically French diploma ‘ingenieur’, which is traditionally a five year sandwich course punctuated with five work placements in industry, including a MSc type thesis.

A school of executive management, called ’Agricadre’

which offers a 2 year course in management and trade to students who have already done a minimum of two years university education ; it also offers the European Engineer Degree course in collaboration with Christeljike Agrarische Hogesschool, Dronten in the Netherlands.

An adult education centre for professional training offering

apprenticeship training, adult continuing education , and even distance learning (or correspondence courses).

A century old school :

ESA was founded in 1898 by Jesuits and representatives of the agricultural world. The school has been instrumental in the development of agriculture in northern and western France, the first region in Europe in the farming and the food industry sectors. Since the Jesuits left in 1970, the school has become a non-profitmaking organization managed by alumni, but closely controlled by the state.

Chambres D'Hotes

I'm starting to like the French and France. It helps the weather is good, I'm staying in the Sarthe valley which is about 2 hours west of Rennes an hour north of Angers and fairly near Le Mans. Nobody else seem to be here on holiday and I have the pleasure of empty roads and cafes and although they don't like to admit it the tourism generally is quiet and like the UK a general slow down of the economy seems to having an effect. It is an area of 'cites de caracteres' (pretty villages), slow moving rivers and streams and huge abbeys.
I am starting to admire the French National pride in all things french and how they are convinced that their food is better. All the villages are clean and tidy with immaculate carparks (all free) with well signposted facilities, the southwest tourist industry could certainly learn a lot.

And french B&B I love it, remembering my brief career (5 years) running a B&B on the top of Exmoor how I love the idea of:

• nobody expects a cooked breakfast, bread and jam is easy and when it goes stale just toast it or dip in your coffee.
• nobody expects good coffee, cafe or lump it.
• evening meals can be 5 courses by serving everything seperately.
• saving on washing up, one knife and fork for every course is fine.
• plenty of wine with the said meal and nobody will remember what you served.
• Sunshine means happy guests after a week of wet cold days on Exmoor even the most hardy guest can feel disapointed.
• more sunshine especially for drying that washing, try keeping sheets on the line on Exmoor let alone getting them dry.

Farming in France, might be tempted!

45 minutes to boil an egg.....

It seemed like a good idea to agree to a 45 minutes talk about ducks and eggs to help make our stall at Exeter Food festival go well. After spending the week before making our new Duck confit and geting greatly stressed I find myself on Royal wedding day completely unprepared delivering a talk on keeping chickens when I had agreed to talk about eggs and duck eggs. Luckily it clashed with the balcony kiss and only the unromantic republicans of Exeter were there to hear me, not so on saturday when I had to abandon my stall with Elsa (age 12) in sole charge as Nevil got stuck in the Exeter football match traffic. This time the tent was full of eager chicken fanciers, but in true Nuffield fashion I managed to convince them that chicken keeping was easy and fun. I also managed a recipe as it was a food festival, effortlessly whipping up a lemon curd using duck eggs. It seemed to go down well and it was certainly memorable with first Dora turning up and then Elsa wandering through to tell me her Dad had finally arrived. Shouting to be heard over a circling helicopter (it was a Plymouth V Exeter match and bloodshed was expected ) I carefully answered questions and avoided anything too contraversial (like badgers and foxes).
So was the festival worth it? I hope so because it was a huge amount of work. The stand cost £325 and we most definately did not take enough to work on my 10% margin. But it was a great showcase for our New Confit product that had loads of postive response and a celebrity endorsement from Mark Hix. The Festival was fun, well managed and well advertised. It seemed to be more of a great day out with food than a food buying event. Being old and cynical should I expect anything better? Probably not, but I am still sure there should be a way to do both like I saw in the Hudson valley.
But is it farming? Probably not, but in a mad way I really enjoyed it, back meeting my foodie groupies and as well as the fellow stall holders that though they love to brag, do try and support each other with lots of bartering and good will.
And as for the Nuffield talk in October, it should be a piece a cake, 15 minutes and no recipe... easy!

Roll, Roll Up Part 2.

After taking the budget option on our first night in India, the last 2 nights were wisely spent in the Diplomatic Enclave of New Delhi in a much grander hotel. Arriving at 1.00am after a long delayed flight from Raipur we were greeted by calm serenity, china teapots and flowers on our Pillows. Opting out of yet another long road trip to the Taj Mahal (i had enough of travel sickness) I at least had the chance to enjoy steak for breakfast. As Nevil was spending the morning back home at Hittisleigh market selling duck, Michael and I took a shopping trip round Delhi. Michael seemed to have an irrational fear of being kidnapped but feeling fairly confident it wouldn't be very lucrative we entrusted ourselves to a Kashmir taxi driver called Hans to give us a tour of Delhi. After a tour of mosques, forts and temples we took a bicycle rickshaw and bus ride to the spice market in Old Delhi. It didn't look much changed for a thousand years with sacks of spices being carried on shoulders and hand carts and deals being made around us in dingy narrow passages. Outside the wholesale area we started to barter, with Hans assistance, for some cardamons and other spices. I thought things were going well until a great shout and commotion started and stalls were quickly packed away off the pavement as the police were coming. After a lot more shouting from Hans we moved on to a happier stall holder to try again to buy what I am hoping is suitable for cooking some curries. The sheer number of people in Old Delhi packed in narrow streets and in complete chaos is hard to describe, suffice to say it was a long way from Hittisleigh market, population 118, as you could possibly be.
Hans seemed to know a lot of people who had things to sell and they all came from Kashmir. After escaping intact from Chandni Chowk we did a tour of these friends including Cheap John the carpet man and various bazaars. Luckily for me they all seemed more interested in selling Michael things, so I could sit back and be amazed at the technique. Everywhere we went we were treated with great hospitality, invited to sit and drink tea or water while goods were displayed with great dexterity. Michael got quite excited about Cheap John's carpets which were quite beautiful, especially the way they twirled them across floor, how I wish I could make duck buying so exciting. They all seemed quite puzzled why two people staying at such an expensive hotel should keep insisting we couldn't afford anything bar a t shirt, but we left promising to return when we had made our fortune.

So that is it, finally I have blogged about my trip, the longest time in 22 years I have spent away from Nevil and from any of my children. A trip of highs and lows but all amazing discoveries. I am still trying to work out what I have seen and how it relates to farming in the UK. I have finally understood the problems with water usage and the dependence on an unreliable climate. I have been disturbed by the reckless attitude to hygiene and the impact that has especially on the children. I have thought deeply about poverty and equality and I'm still trying to make sense of it. But most of all I have a sense of wanting to know more, to make a difference however small and a gratitude that I live in a country where my children, especially my daughters have a choice.

Raipur and some chickens at last.

Raipur,capital of the state of Chattisgarh somewhere in the middle of India, nowhere in my guide book, but from the adverts at the airport a very important place for concrete and steel. India seems to be built of concrete, all successful businesses seem to have a cement division (along with power station and hotels) and much of India seems to be in the process of being built or falling down. We were here to travel about one and half hours north (how far I don't know, could have been 20 miles with the hair raising traffic) to visit Mr Bahadur Ali and his impressive ABIS group. This business started with a broiler unit of 10,000 birds in 1985 and now rears 2.5 million broilers per cycle with 7 cycles a year, 0.1 million layers and a 250,000 breeder flock. A fully integrated business ABIS includes a large feed mill producing feeds for poultry, cattle, pet food and fish feed as well as soya oil extraction plant.
We looked around the mill which surprisingly meets ISO 9000 standards and then looked at yet another large intensive dairy. This one was a remarkable in the fact the cows were the cleanest we saw with teams of people cleaning up constantly with a broom and shovel and very little mechanisation. It also boasted one of only three rotary palours in India.
95% of the chickens produced by ABIS are sold in the wet market, that is they are transported live to the shop and then killed as the customer buys them. Apparently the costs would be 4 rupees to process in a abattoir and just 1 rupee to kill in the shop (with an exchange rate of around 70 rupees:£). This processing also gets round the unreliable electricity supply and the lack of investment in any sort of refrigerated distribution chain. ABIS group has 160 retail units selling just chicken and eggs and also distributes milk and ghee to small shops.
We had tea with Mr Ali and heard nuggets like 'luck, it is all' and about 'sustaining power' as well as hearing how they plan to keep expanding as the market for both poultry meat and milk increases. He is very aware of new market opportunities and is looking at building an abattoir in 2015/2016 to be able to supply the likes of KFC and Freshgo supermarket.
An impressive business, but one i found quite scary for the disregard of safety and hygiene. With the cheap labour availability, cheap building materials and the Indian 'anything is possible attitude,' a large abattoir would have processing costs way below the biggest UK plants. Inexpensive protein from an unsubsidised poultry industry helped transform the post war diet in the UK, this is happening in India and the appetite in a previously vegetarian society is huge. I came away thinking about when they had fed the 1.2 billion Indians would they turn to exports, maybe another reason not to eat at fast food chicken outlets.
So that's Raipur, cement, steel and chickens....

Camel Poo Paper, Wool and Ice Cream

The trips to see sheep and camels were hosted by Ilse Koehler-Rollefson, and Hanwant Singh Rathore of the League for Pastoral Peoples and Endogenous Livestock Developement

The LPP'S (for short) believes in helping from within the community and much work is done to improve the welfare and health of the livestock as well as helping the communities fight for their rights to maintain their traditional ways of life. In a country that has huge potential and ability for intensive production and with a government that sees food production as a priority the traditional livestock farmers are struggling to survive. LPP's is working on developing new markets for novel products such as camel milk ice cream, camel wool and camel poo paper. These added value products also creates jobs for the local women, especially widows in isolated villages.

Ilsa and Hanwant not only gave up their time to show us around but also cooked us a wonderful meal. I felt honoured to meet two people that cared for the pastoral people enough to try and improve their lives.
The following video, more professionally done than my efforts, gives a really good overview of what their project is achieving.