Training the farmers of tomorrow

Dear Difteur-ses, 🥕Le Compagnonnage is a practical and itinerant training program for market gardeners and PPAM farmers. For 7 months, the 31 Companions of Class 2026 train directly on 20 agroecological farms in our network. To celebrate the end of this first 9-week immersion phase on the farms, the Compagnons gathered at the Cour Pétral in Normandy last month. This collective time was an opportunity: 🔹To get together, first of all; 🔹To share their first experiences on their respective tutor farms; 🔹To take courses dedicated to the economic viability of market garden farm models, soil functioning or even the wild harvesting of Perfumed, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants (PPAM); 🔹To benefit from individualized follow-up to build their professional and/or installation project. 🧑‍🌾 Afterwards, they all returned to their respective farms to begin the second immersion phase! 🌺A big thank you for your precious donations and support!

In 2024, the Ministry of Agriculture's figures are clear: 25 farms are disappearing every day and one in two farmers will retire without a replacement within five years. In the face of this emergency, training future farmers is an essential lever to ensure the transition and sustainability of the agricultural system. It is in this context that Fermes d'Avenir has created the programme Compagnonnage, a practical, itinerant training program for the professions of maraîcher-ère and paysan-ne producteur-rice de PPAM (Plantes à Parfum, Aromatiques et Médicinales). The Class of 2025, made up of 40 future farmers, met last October in Boissy-les-Perche for the closing of the program. This week was an opportunity for the Companions and the farms, to talk about their training experience, exchange best practices and visit a local farm: the Jardins de la Rue farm. Created in 2017, Compagnonnage comes in two tracks: agroecological market gardening and PPAM. Lasting 8 months, the training is based on 27 weeks of full-time internship, immersed on three agroecological farms in the Fermes d'Avenir network, supplemented by theoretical input and a possible dual curriculum with a distance BPREA. Born of a desire to provide future farmers with high-quality, hands-on training, Compagnonnage ultimately has no equivalent in the agricultural training landscape. For Marika, a former Compagnonne, "Compagnonnage brought to light what I was looking for: agricultural training that is also a lively, meeting place. I already feel I have the right to become a farmer. And that's powerful."