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Photos: For this French farmer, happiness is life before machines
On a small farm where he grew up, a garrulous, white-bearded 70-year-old French farmer and his partner practice subsistence farming without the aid of any technological advancements since the end of World War II.
Updated on: Feb 17, 2018 4:51 PM IST
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French farmer Jean-Bernard Huon, 70, carries hay at his farm in Riec-sur-Belon, France. When farm machinery revolutionised French agriculture in the years after World War Two, a young Jean-Bernard Huon turned his back on the new technology. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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On a small farm where he grew up, the garrulous, white-bearded 70-year-old and his partner Laurence milk eight cows by hand, grind flour manually and tirelessly collect manure to fertilise the crops that feed his livestock. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Half a century later, in this corner of southern Brittany on France’s west coast, Huon still uses oxen to plough his fields, determined to preserve an ancestral, peasant way of life. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Jean-Bernard Huon, cuts bread during lunch at his farm. Huon’s manual approach to subsistence farming makes him a rarity in the European Union’s biggest agricultural economy. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Huon and his companion Laurence harvest beets on their land near their farm. “I’m a happy outsider,” Huon said on the farm where he lives without hot water. “I’ve always managed by myself, I’ve never been rich but what do I care?” (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Laurence prepares butter by hand at their farm. Huon shuns France’s hypermarkets, instead selling his pork, veal and butter to those who visit his ramshackle farm. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Jean-Bernard Huon, (C), toasts with bikers during the annual biker rally at his farm. “Farmers today have a lot more land and animals than me, but they’re not necessarily happier. They face a lot of constraints,” he said. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Geese walk by as Laurence, works at their farm in Riec-sur-Belon. While his production is effectively organic, he refuses to use the label to market his goods and has eschewed distribution trends like farmers’ markets. Nor will he criticise farmers who embrace modern-day machines and chemicals. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Jean-Bernard Huon, 70, holds an old family photograph. “I lived in a time when you could set up easily, you just had to have some land and you could produce,” he said. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Laurence look over Huon’s shoulder as he writes a note. “People criticise and it’s good to criticise, but you have to know why it came about. Chemicals were a liberation for farmers. Can you imagine? You apply some glyphosate and you don’t have any more weeds. Otherwise you have to do it with the hoe.” (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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Huon hopes to find a successor to preserve the traditional spirit of the farm, which he plans to donate rather than sell. Nonetheless, he recognises that whoever follows will have to make changes as regulatory pressures become ever tougher. (Stephane Mahe / REUTERS)
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