Despite the appointment of a director, the future of the Montauban slaughterhouse remains unsolved. Visiting the site this Friday, Michel Weill, president of the departmental council, wanted to be positive.
Despite the clouds that loom over its future, the Montauban slaughterhouse works continuously. The 16 employees and the 3 resident veterinarians work as if nothing had happened and the pigs are faring badly. Since last summer, a new director from Guyana has been hired, Fabrice Brahime.
This Friday morning, Michel Weill, president of the Departmental Council, visited the site, which has been in danger since the operational SARL announced that it no longer had the means to continue the activity.
Taken over in January 2020 by the four main slaughterhouses of Tarn-et-Garonne (Abattoir des Tuileries, Cooporc 82, Viande Occitane and Ferme de Cambes), the slaughterhouse requires large investments. If the refrigeration has been completely redone (1 M€ of work), the cattle barn (the barn) and the pig depilator still need to be adapted to European standards, a new investment of 800,000 euros, a potentially 40% reduced budget by the State through the France Relance plan.
“The slaughterhouse is essential for our companies and for the farmers, comments Jean-François Audin, co-director of the SARL. We wanted to keep this instrument at all costs to save our businesses, but we have already invested a lot of money and can no longer support other investments. The discussions have been going on for a year and a half and it is time to find a consensus because it will be difficult to go beyond the end of January. »
“Pleasantly surprised by the quality of this tool”
If it does not have the economic competence, the Departmental Council multiplies the actions to mobilize the various partners. The visit of Michel Weill fits into this picture. “I wanted to see the state of the slaughterhouse and despite everything we heard, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this tool. This slaughterhouse has its place in the department, especially as we know that some of them are in danger of closing. At a time when we are talking about carbon footprints, we cannot accept that some farmers go as far as Brittany to have their animals slaughtered. On Monday we will host the Minister of Agriculture and discuss it. »
To reach financial equilibrium, the slaughterhouse has to process 3,500 to 4,000 tons per year compared to the current 3,000. A non-prohibitive figure knowing that Castelsarrasin no longer has the approval of the Prefecture. And, in the neighboring departments, Auch deals only with cattle while pork accounts for 60 to 70% of Montauban’s business, while Villeneuve-sur-Lot is saturated.
Last advantage of Montauban: it is one of the rare multi-species slaughterhouses capable of processing pigs, sheep, cattle and horses. The ball is in the court of the town hall of Montauban, owner of the ramparts. Without a solution, it would be goodbye calves, cows, pigs, litters.
