French Agriculture from a Student’s Perspective

By Crystal Olson

As college graduation quickly approached, I knew my last chance to travel overseas was also fast approaching. With visions of one final time to be carefree before heading into the unknown of the real world, I decided to talk to my parents about yet another “justifiable” trip. The UNL College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) offers students several opportunities to travel abroad to different parts of the world. Several of my friends recommended the two-week agri-business trip to France. I cautiously approached my parents with the information I had received from the France information session. Of course their first thought was absolutely not, so I had to resort to my usual argument: “I don’t want to live my life with regrets, and if I don’t go to Europe now I will regret it the rest of my life.”

Some might argue I am young and will have plenty of opportunity to travel the country, but I am getting married to a farmer/cattle feeder in December … enough said. The argument that won over my parents, however, was that CASNR is very supportive of their students traveling abroad and enhancing their education and perspective on the world, so much so that CASNR generously offers a travel scholarship to each student in the college interested in traveling abroad, which thankfully covered our airfare and course credit. I carefully explained to my parents that this trip will never be this cheap again, and it’s educational!    

The Monday after my college graduation, nine other CASNR students and I were on a plane to France for a two-week, activity-packed European excursion. We finally landed in Paris, took a taxi to the train station, a train to Dijon and another taxi to our dorm at the University in Dijon. The next two weeks our schedules were full of tours of wineries, Chateaus, cheese factories and dairy, cereal, olive and truffle farms. Not to mention we were treated to incredible, full course French cuisine with wine at every meal.

My favorite tour, however, was our trip to a Charolais cattle farm, Elevage Charolais. In English, elevage means breeding or raising. The farm’s owners are brothers Jean-Luc and Michel Baudot. Of the two, Michel mainly talked with us because he spoke better English, but our conversations were also translated by our French tour guide, Pascal. Elevage Charolais was started by the Baudot brothers’ grandfather in 1936 with 30 Charolais cows. Today, they have increased their herd to 200 purebred cows.

The farm looked much like what can be found in eastern Nebraska with its lush, green grass. My first impression of the cattle was how thick they were. True to their breed, these Charolais were stout and muscular. I was also surprised that all the cattle were horned. The Baudots explained that they do not dehorn their cattle for a couple of reasons. Michel said the cattle would loose part of their purebred character and, socially, it is considered “cruel” to the animal. Weighing in around 2,500 pounds, the herd bull was also impressive. He was tame and had won several cattle shows.

We toured the rest of the farm and the Baudots showed us their calving barn, which is equipped with a video camera conveniently hooked up directly to Michel’s bedroom TV. I’m sure every rancher would prefer this way of night calving! The herd stays inside an attached barn during January and February. The Baudots also take pride in the fact that since the establishment of their Charolais farm in 1936, they have never bought a female. They have only purchased bulls. Bloodlines mean everything to their operation. It is tradition in France to produce “purebred” meat and they explained to us that the French consumer wants to know exactly what they are eating. They fittingly compared their beef product to a wine label; all the information from the beef is provided to the consumer, even a picture of the animal, on the label.

Although the Baudots are successful purebred genetic producers and ship bulls all over the world (even to a few Nebraska Sandhills ranches), it was surprising how relatively small their operation was. However, as we learned, the French government is the main reason the Baudot brothers are not able to expand their herd. Michel explained that each cattle farmer is allowed 60 cows per worker; if an operation has more than 60, they don’t receive as many subsidies from the government. If a farmer would like to expand, they have to appeal to a government committee to obtain more land for cattle. Moreover, Michel said it is not a question of money as much as it is priority. If a smaller farm also wanted to expand, the smaller farm would be able get the land and the larger might not. Additional government regulations require operations to tag calves two days after they are born and register them within seven days. Breeders also take a small piece of each calf’s ear so they can prove identification.

French environmental regulations on farming operations are also stiff. If the Baudots put fertilizer on their land, they must keep detailed records of how much they applied and when, making sure the application is 100 yards away from the river on both sides. French producers are also penalized with a decrease in subsidies when they increase fertilizer application. In the future, the brothers believe they will even have to keep their cows out of the river because of harsh environmental regulations.

Some producers have left France and moved their operations to the east country where there is less regulation and not a lot of people who know about agricultural practices.

French producers are saddled with many more regulations than U.S. producers, however, they take great pride in the way they breed and raise cattle. They do not use hormones in production. According to Michel, if they did use hormones, the meat market would sink. They take great care in France to keep bloodlines pure, choosing not to cross breeds much, if at all, in direct contrast to the U.S. practice of crossbreeding or developing hybrid lines of cattle. Despite the differences, Michel was adamant in saying, “We are all in this together. Even Nebraska ranchers and cattle feeders have problems and it is useful to share our thoughts and ideas with each other. When it comes down to it, we are passionate about the same things – animals and nature. If we were in it for the money then we would all have different jobs.”

The Baudots also spoke fondly of a previous trip they took to North Platte and the Sandhills. Even so, the brothers agreed that if they could do it all over again, they would keep their purebred Charolais operation in France.

My trip to France made me more thankful for what I have in the U.S., and I am grateful I had the opportunity to visit and study a variety of agricultural farms. We also spent two days in Paris but agreed after our two weeks in the French countryside, it was our least favorite part of the trip. After visiting Paris I am not exactly sure why people complain about feedlots. Paris, to me, seemed like a six-million-head human feedyard, except a feedyard might smell better. Much to my mother’s relief, I returned to the U.S. safely with a few bottles of wine, a new appreciation for U.S. agriculture and a lifetime of memories.  Y  By Crystal Olson, former NC communications intern and UNL ag journalism student from Axtell.

Graphics Used:

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Caption: Lush forage and farm buildings frame the Elevage Charolais farm sign in France.

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Caption: Author Crystal Olson with Jean-Luc (left) and Michel Baudot.

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Caption: The Baudot Charolais herd moves up the French countryside.

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Caption: Horned animals were as much the norm as were polled. Dehorning is not a common production practice in France.