Caught in legal and relational shenanigans, the peasant Claire Guyon struggles to find land in her town of Vaux-et-Chantegrue (Doubs) and its surroundings to develop her small farm of transhumance cows and chickens. One of her appeals was heard on Thursday 5 May in the administrative court of Besançon.
He clearly and calmly explains every detail of his ongoing “business”. Claire Guyon is ready to talk about her beginnings as a farmer in 2013, her modest-sized organic farm designed for complete transhumance towards the mountain pastures where she intends to spend four summer months: a dozen dairy cows processing cheese, calves whose meat is sold directly on the farm to avoid fattening centers, egg and broiler hens in pots, as well as broilers.
But when he mentions his difficulties in acquiring or renting new land to increase his business, the young woman strangles herself a little. “I do everything myself: milk, transform, sell, he lets himself go on the verge of tears. I am raising my 5 year old son and have to fight every day! I spend two hours a day in administrative procedures just to have a little more land to live on! I think that’s very unfair!”
Claire Guyon is not, however, unknown in the industry. Originally from Haut-Doubs, she trained at the Granvelle agricultural high school in Dannemarie-sur-Crête near Besançon, and she has carried out various professions in the region, including that of shepherdess for 10 years.
In 2017, she bought the farm and half an acre from her great-aunt in the commune of Chantegrue. Her uncle gives her 3.7 hectares and she leases 5 hectares on the edge of town. The municipality of Vaux-et-Chantegrue told her in 2018 that if she wanted to rent another 5 hectares of communal land, dry meadows for grazing, she would have to wait for the sale of a business. What happens in 2019.
But, to Claire Guyon’s surprise, the city council decides to re-lease the entire 43 hectares of municipal agricultural land to the new retiree’s successor and former apprentice, who now belongs to the city council. No mention of Claire Guyon in the deliberations. The shepherdess does not know at this moment that she can challenge the decision of the city council.
Claire Guyon will then apply for a “competition” to try her luck again in order to obtain the lease of a few hectares, only of the 83 hectares that her “rival” now has, a dairy farm in the area of the County. In fact, French law and the regional master plan for farms (SDREA) play in her favor. SDREA in the Doubs considers that above 69 hectares a farm is large enough and that any extension should be subject to an operating permit from the prefecture to avoid “farmer grabbing”. Clearly, that the big ones outgrow the little ones and diversity.
This is where things get a little complicated. And it takes a Kafkaesque turn for Claire Guyon. The Prefecture, to decide who to assign the land to, classifies the competitors from 1 to 8. From 1 to 7 they are managers of farms. The Renaud farm, a competitor of Claire Guyon, is classified as “Priority 3”. Claire Guyon, which at the time was not considered a farm by the MSA because it was too small (land less than 12.5 hectares) inherited a “Priority 8”, its category of “taxpayer solidarity”. On the 3rd strikes the 8th, the prefecture grants the exploitation of the communal lands to the Renaud farm.
At the climax of this story, Claire Guyon, not being precisely a farmer, did not have to apply for an operating permit, but for this it would have been necessary to agree directly with the landlord, which, we have seen previously, was not possible.
“It’s the fox biting its tail, laments Claire Guyon. When you don’t have enough land, you can’t be a farmer. And when you’re not a farmer, you can’t claim land!”
It is therefore the prefectural decision of June 11, 2020 that Claire Guyon appealed against and which was judged before the administrative court on Thursday May 5. The young woman believes that the prefecture should have considered her a manager, a status she obtained six months later from the Msa by enhancing the hours of work as a trader of her products. The prefecture would then give it a “priority” at least as good, if not better than the Renaud farm, so that it could expand, again in the name of the SDREA. If the prefect’s decision is overturned, the rent may actually revert to Claire Guyon, given her change in status.
“Madame Guyon believes that the prefecture should have anticipated her change of status and given her a better rank”explains Alexis Pernot, public speaker at the administrative court of Besançon. “From a moral point of view, and from the regulatory plan, this is understandable. But from an administrative and factual point of view, it is not admissible. That is why in my conclusions, I recommend not breaking the prefectural decree. We will see if the judges they will decide to follow me or not”. Reply in three weeks.
Pending the judgment, the municipality of Vaux-et-Chantegrue presented another proposal to Claire Guyon. She leases her 3 hectares of “deep marsh” on which you cannot place an animal before July 14th. “Obviously I declined, he said. It’s like asking a carpenter to move you to the third floor without an elevator.”
Claire Guyon has also applied for the Boivine pasture, 22 hectares of usable agricultural land in the commune of Rochejean, plus 33 hectares of woods, meadows and a mountain chalet. An ideal place for summer pastures. An amicable settlement had been made with the one who was leaving the club, a Swiss woman. The safest (The Society for Land Development and Rural Settlement) est favorable as well as the seller. But once again, the city council voted unanimously against renting Claire Guyon. Since then, a series of appeals from the municipality of Rochejean and that of Labergement-Sainte-Marie have prevented the case from being concluded.
And Claire Guyon is desperate. “I don’t know if it is my project or my person that poses a problem. It is innovative and disturbing. My values, my choice of life are different. Yet transhumance has been included in the intangible cultural heritage of UNESCO! If I can’t carry out my agricultural and tourist settlement project, I will have to repay the “young farmer” contribution I received, in addition to the loans to bring my plants up to standard.
On Saturday May 7, Claire Guyon, supported by the Confédération paysanne, the organic farmers of the Doubs and the Territoire de Belfort and Nature et Progrès among others, is organizing a press conference on her farm in Chantegrue. She announces “revelations below actuality and a participatory and demonstrative action of his installation project”.
