Text: Kim Schoukens - Images: Marianna Briançon
Text: Kim Schoukens - Images: Sarah Clulow
Sarah Clulow is a first generation farmer. She doesn’t come from a farming family, nor is she married to a farmer. And yet, one day, she decided to leave the safety of job and home behind to become a farmer.
This winter, farmer protest have erupted all over Europe. In France, farmers locked down nearly all major highways in the country in January and February, supported by most of the population. Marianna Briançon, a young farmer from the French Alps and the French Miss Agriculture 2022, was on the barricades with her colleagues, fighting for her future.
Farmers’ protests all around the world have been in the news for weeks now. One of the leading countries in these protests is France. Images of tractors blocking the highways or entering Paris have been circulating on social media, sparking protests in surrounding countries. One of the prominent voices in these farmers’ protests is that of Marianna Briançon, who pleaded for farmers to be heard on her social media channels. At just twenty-eight, Marianna gave up a steady job to return to her father’s goat farm, high up in the French Alps, two years ago. Her very vocal advocacy for agriculture earned her the title of “Miss France Agricole” in 2022. She has been using the visibility this title gave her to engage in conversations about agriculture and raise awareness.
Sheepherding in the French Alps
Marianna’s father has been a farmer in the hamlet of Glaise (Veynes) in the southern French department of Hautes Alpes for twenty-seven years. Her dad’s flock of two hundred hardy Merinos d’Arles ewes, raised for their meat, and the pastures high up in the mountains are all Marianna has known since she was a child. The Merinos d’Arles ewes are characterised by their quiet personality, medium size and wool covering even their heads. It’s a sturdy breed, perfect for the harsh conditions of Marianna’s mountain farm. “The farm is located at an altitude of 1200 meters in a magnificent mountain landscape, seven kilometres from the nearest village. With our long winters lasting up to six months and very little flat surface to put up buildings like barns and stables, we had to be smart in order to run our farm, especially since we don’t own the land but are only tenants on it”, Marianna says.
“My father tried to grow some crops on the rocky calc-clay soil, but he soon realised that it was better to sow pastures and maintain those, using some manure and a little fertilizer from time to time, never more than strictly necessary. He applied the same philosophy on his entire operation: less is more. Very little equipment and, therefore, virtually no maintenance costs. Hay is harvested by a neighbour, the lambs are sold ‘lean’, i.e. not fattened, to a cooperative. It is a good system and it’s how he managed to turn the farm around after a few setbacks.”
Looking at my surroundings and breathing in the fresh air, I knew that I was where I belonged
Becoming a farmer was definitely not in Marianna’s plans for the future: she initially held a full time job off the farm, but returned to the mountains after a mental health scare. “When asked if I wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps and take over the farm, I would always say ‘never!’ (laughs) I was too aware of all the work and difficulties involved with running a farm. I studied communications and landed a nice job as a digital moderator. It felt good at first, I liked helping my users by assisting them in doing their paperwork on their computer and had great hours, holidays and weekends off and paid vacation time. However in spite of all this, the pressure of a hierarchy that doesn’t take the human factor into account led me to the onset of a burnout at the age of twenty-five. That’s when I started questioning my choices.”
Marianna took a week off to replace her father on the farm and allow him to take a well-deserved vacation after twenty-five years without any leisure time. There, up in the mountains among the flock, she realised she needed to turn her life around. “Looking at my surroundings and breathing in the fresh air, I knew that I was where I belonged.”
Right after, Marianna left her office job to return to her father’s farm and establish herself as a farmer alongside him. “My aim is to help him make the most of his work, so I am setting up direct sales of lambs as well as processing culls – ewes that leave the flock – into charcuterie like saucissons (thick, dry-cured sausage-shaped French specialty, typically made of pork and somewhat similar to salami, very typical for the mountainous regions in the south of France, red.). It will require some changes to our system and before I can really get things going, we are going to have to move our operation since the owners decided they want their own children to farm the land. This move breaks my heart but it’ll be a new beginning for the both of us and give me the opportunity to set up a new workshop for meat processing that simply wasn’t possible on our current location. We will move to the lower lands, meaning climate will be less harsh and the animals will be outside more often, to our delight.”
Like on every farm, there is no typical day for Marianna and her dad, even though there are seasons and patterns that repeat every year. To Marianna, it’s this variety that makes her job exciting. “As I am doing this interview, we are in the midst of spring lambing, a beautiful season! Personally, I prefer autumn lambing because that happens outdoors, but births are always magical. Around this time of year, we feed our animals indoors, take care of the newborns, suckle the little ones who have trouble or whose mothers are not experienced. In the next months, we will spend most of our days out in the pastures equipped with nets to ration the animals. Everything starts with the feed in animal farming! My favourite part of the job is the caretaking aspect: finding out what’s wrong with an animal and being able to help it. As a child, I wanted to be a veterinary. It seems I am still passionate about caring for animals!”
Miss France Agricole
Communication is another passion of Marianna’s. Today, she uses the communications skills she learned in school to promote the farm’s production and share about her daily life as a farmer on social media networks. Marianna is most active on Instagram and Facebook, where she runs the accounts “Heidi Agricultrice” and “Marianna Miss Agricole 2022” in order to highlight her profession, her passion and her way of life. “And to deconstruct stereotypes about rural life and women in agriculture.”
“I hope I can reach as many people as possible to raise awareness about our issues as a sector by communicating about our beautiful profession in a positive way”, she explains. Her election as Miss France Agricole gave her accounts a boost, something she uses to give back to her community. “Miss France Agricole is a friendly election that mostly takes place on Facebook. The first selection is made by an online vote, after which a jury of five professionals chooses the winners. Honestly, I did not expect to win: I was not even established on the farm yet when I entered, so I said to myself ‘I’ll try again once I’m settled’.” The election, although unexpected, opened a lot of doors for Marianna. An opportunity she seized with both hands, building her network and going on tours around the country in order to promote French agriculture.
Vocal
If Marianna is very vocal about her job and defending agriculture, she also uses her voice when confronted with stereotypes about women in agriculture. Supported by her dad in all her endeavours, she does not encounter prejudice in her daily work on the farm. Unfortunately, not everyone has kept up with the times like her dad. “I grew up in agriculture, so when I decided to go for it full time, I knew I was all in but I also noticed that it can be a conservative environment with very rigid ideas. Just being a woman can cause people’s behaviour or be an excuse for inappropriate remarks. I have a very open-minded and understanding dad who always puts me first, to the point of telling people who come to the farm to check with ‘the boss’ when they have questions. He did this even before I decided to settle here.”
“When I went to my boyfriend’s farm, however, and his neighbours saw me driving a wheel loader or working a chainsaw, that lead to nasty comments, mostly behind my back”, Marianna remembers. Never shy to speak her mind when she feels she is being treated unfairly, she doesn’t hesitate to let people know she will not tolerate prejudice. “I can’t stand misogyny. When I hear people suggest I am not capable, I will tell them to take a good look at me and watch me do it. True, I can’t lift a 200kg bale, but neither can my dad. When they go ‘when you have children’ I reply ‘I won’t have them on my own’. I try to show up and speak up, convinced that this is how I can change people’s attitudes.”
Emotions are a strength, not weakness
Farming is hard, and what never tends to make it easier is the administration that comes with the job. For Marianna, the endless paperwork is probably the hardest part of being a farmer. “Setting up my own business is hard enough as it is, all the paperwork that comes with farming doesn’t help. We have to anticipate everything and factor in all the uncertainties that come with farming. It seems impossible: we can’t know what the weather will be like for the next months.”
Another difficulty of the job is the emotional part of rearing – and so, losing – animals. Being “emotional” is a classic reproach made to women in the work field. Marianna has managed to turn it around and see her sensitivity as a strength instead of a weakness. “This work can take a huge emotional toll on me, especially when I lose animals during lambing. I will get angry at myself for not having been able to do anything. If it were up to me, I’d want to save all the lambs, understand all the risks and diseases and prevent deaths, but I know that is impossible. Where there is life, there is death. I have come to terms with that.”
Up in the mountains, Marianna and her colleagues have to deal with a huge threat to their livestock: wolves. Unfortunately, slayings happen regularly in spite of all the measures taken to protect their animals, such as guard dogs. Last September, Marianna’s farm was hit hard by a wolf attack: six animals were eviscerated on a pasture where ewes and their lambs were being kept. “I didn’t get any sleep that night. Predation is the worst part of the job to me. Usually, the wolves manage to attack once a year and it’s an animal or two, this attack was something else. The next day, I travelled to Paris to put the skull of one of my slain sheep on a desk at the Economic, Social and Environmental Council, demanding measures to be taken. I told them that the previous day’s corpses wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. Predation is a psychological and physical hell for livestock farmers.”
“My dad often tells me ‘you have to toughen up, my little girl, otherwise life is going to be very hard for you.’ And while it is true that if I cried every time something sad happened to me, I could water the pastures with my tears… I think my sensitivity also provides me with a different perspective. I look at my herd another way than most and because I am sensitive, I am also more patient, which is necessary when you care for animals. It also allows me to enjoy the beautiful parts of my work more fully. Lambing is my favourite part of the job: it is hope, life, renewal. It’s cute and endearing! Every birth is beautiful, whether we have to intervene or no. It’s a pretty exhausting time of year for us, but I love all of it, especially in autumn when the births happen outside in the pastures.”
Get out of your own way
Marianna’s advice for women who want to become farmers is to go for it and rise above your own fears and limitations. “You think you don’t have the strength? I don’t have the physical strength either, I go to the gym to tone the muscles I lack. You’re not a morning person? Morning hates me! (laughs) And yet, getting up is the most beautiful thing in the world to me if it means I get to go to the farm. You have a disease or something that eats at your abilities? I have Type 1 diabetes, diagnosed not two years ago. I promised myself it would never prevent me from following my dream of doing this job. You think you are ’too sensitive’? I am incredibly sensitive and I cry a lot, sometimes over nothing. And you know what? It helps. Crying, letting out your emotions, helps. It doesn’t make you less than. Being a woman is not something to overcome. Women have always been a crucial part of agriculture, they are just finally becoming more visible now. Being a woman in a man’s world only strengthens my resolve to prove we are just as, if not more capable as men.”
“We need everyone in agriculture: men and women. France is going to lose fifty per cent of its workforce soon as the older generation will take their well-earned rest, it is crucial to renew the generations. So whatever your gender, strength or abilities, don’t forget that if you want to achieve something, the only thing that will get you there in the end is your mind. Agriculture comes with struggles and difficulties, but above all it's an essential profession that feeds the world. It's a fascinating and exciting job because of its diversity and it reminds me every day that a job you love... isn't really work.”