FRANCE: Faced With Inflation And Climatic Hazards, These Auvergne Farmers Are Investing In Maritime Containers
The start-up Vif Systems, associated with the Auvergne seed company Limagrain, offers farmers in Puy-de-Dôme 3 x 6 m metal buildings repurposed for growing aromatic plants. A first in France.
Julien Chatard, a cereal grower in Limagne, purchased a container to diversify his income by growing aromatic herbs.
October 24 , 2023
Growing aromatic plants in shipping containers... This is the latest agricultural innovation implemented in the Limagne plain, at the foot of the Auvergne volcanoes. Coriander, dill, fennel and even marigold grow in 3 x 6 meter metal buildings refitted for this use and clad in technology. An above-ground culture of the future made possible thanks to software developed by the Lyon start-up Vif Systems, specializing in vertical farms .
LED lights, humidity, temperature: all parameters are controlled by computer. “I just have to wait for it to grow,” smiles Julien Chatard, 42 years old. For a year, this cereal grower based in Aubiat (Puy-de-Dôme), who simultaneously cultivates 27 hectares of barley and wheat, has been tempted by the adventure.
Around a hundred installations in the short-term
“For me, it’s a guaranteed additional income of 1,000 euros per month for the moment. When I have amortized the purchase of the container in five years, I will pay myself 2,000 euros. It is interesting and low risk because this crop is not subject to climatic hazards or fluctuations in grain prices. »
Concretely, Vif Systèmes provides the containers and the technology. The farmer cultivates seedlings which are delivered to him in trays. Eleven days later, the plants are resold to Limagrain, an Auvergne seed company (which has just acquired a 25% stake in the Lyon start-up), before being sold to Lyon restaurateurs. For an investment of less than 100,000 euros, farmers who are trying this first in France are already won over. By the end of 2023, eleven containers should be installed in Puy-de-Dôme. A hundred could quickly flourish in Auvergne.
Lead photo; The start-up Vif Systems, associated with the Auvergne seed company Limagrain, offers farmers in Puy-de-Dôme 3 x 6 m metal buildings repurposed for growing aromatic plants. A first in France.
Julien Chatard, a cereal grower in Limagne, purchased a container to diversify his income by growing aromatic herbs. LP/Geneviève Colonna d’Istria