Fermes en vie has two roles. The first is to find people interested in investing in environmentally-focused projects. There are currently 2,500 individuals involved. On the other side, FEVE's task is to carefully select the farmers who wish to establish themselves. The project must be economically viable and comply with the agroecological charter, which goes beyond merely meeting the standards of the French organic farming label.
Since the creation of FEVE, around sixty farmers have established themselves in about forty farms across France. The goal is to achieve around forty new installations by the end of the year and, within one to two years, to reach about a hundred new business creations or takeovers annually.
“Today, we have a problem in the agricultural world, which is that more and more people are retiring with relatively few replacements,” explains Vincent Kraus. “As a result, farms are disappearing, unless we move towards expansion, which often comes with a simplification of practices that may not align with environmental values. We need a sufficient number of farmers to produce our food as healthily as possible. Therefore, our role is really to facilitate these installations.”
