Fete de l’agriculture paysanne 18th September 2021

Fete de l’agriculture paysanne, organised by my union, the Confederation Paysanne Aude is on the Saturday 18th September. This is the sixth Fete de l’agriculture paysannel, which they have managed to keep going despite the COVID pandemic.

As usual the Fete de l’agriculture paysanne will be held on the municipal land behind the Maisons Paysanne in Limoux. It is on the other side of the Aude river from the main town, follow the signs for the municipal swimming pool / St Polycarpe. The entrance is directly opposite the swimming pool. It runs from 11am through to 2am.

There is a series of conferences and workshops during the day, a bar, locally produced food at lunchtime and evening with a concert in the evening as well. The Domaine de Montrouch will be in the market along with our plants.

This year the Fete is dedicated to paysanne seeds. The professional seed industry is dominated by 4 large seed companies, who are are either owned or work closely with the agricultural chemical industry to develop varieties of seeds that work well or support chemical fertilsers, herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides, also the famous organically modified sterile seeds. In contrast to this industry the Confederation  paysanne works to promote farmers saving and sharing their own seeds, particularly concentrating on heritage varieties that have traditionally been grown in the area so are will adapted to the local climate, soil and humidity. It is both a way for farms and individual growers to operate free from the seed:agro chemical industry and to produce healthy sustainable crops.

Well actually this year the Fete  is not actually a festival, it is a union meeting. Union meetings are like business meetings, not covered by the same rules as other activities. There will be no vaccination control, because as I said it is not a festival it is a union meeting. That said please don’t be silly, masks are still a good idea.