Day 8: French History and Animal Science

Today, we had lessons in French Animal Science and French History. The animal science lesson related specifically to dairy production, in which we learned about the various government implementations that control milk prices. Currently, the French use a quote system that allows farmers to only produce a certain amount of milk, and buyers a required to buy this milk at certain set prices. However, we found out that, recently, legislation has been reformed to remove the quotas for the benefits of both the producers and consumers. Looking at the economics behind the new legislation, I would figure that after the quotas are eliminated, more and more farmers will increase milk production, leading to lower prices and possibly a dairy surplus. We also learned about different animal welfare policies, and at the French's newest effort relating to swine castration. The French would rather inject swine with anti-hormonal medications than to castrate the swine's testicles. I thought it was rather contradicting for a culture that pushes for organic products and a natural lifestyle. Hormonal injections are a bit controversial in the United States and many people don't necessarily want hormonal injections in their meat products. However, it seems that here the French weigh animal welfare over hormonal meat injections. After the lectures, we went on a field trip to an organic farm about thirty minutes outside of Angers. The farm was interesting, but i honestly wasn't impressed with it's system, overall. There were a lot of things out of place and the overall image of the farm looked like a mess (i.e. farm equipment randomly scattered throughout the property, plastic amidst the greenhouses, and pests on the plants). The farm was in the process of building a new "cold" building that would be used to store the fruits and vegetables. The bricks on the farm were even made from organic clay. After a brief presentation, I picked up that the farmers themselves paid little, if any, attention to accounting principals and economic analysis of their operations. When we asked which product had the highest margin and/or brought in the most profit, the farmer could not even answer. It's interesting to see that farmers, such as this, will place more emphasis on sustainability and organic growth than reviewing their companies operations and financial affairs. This is something that is obviously different from the United States, which is economically focused. It's just their way of life; it's different.