There are no dogmas: it’s about agility. My liberty is a zone of influence that I occupy as I see fit.
Yoann Dumont
His farm
- Took over his family farm in 2009: a 200-ha cereal farm.
- Rapeseed, wheat, barley, maize and various protein crops (mainly soybean and peas)
His innovations
- Intercropping practices, with no-till and direct seeding, depending on agronomic conditions.
- Low volume productions.
- 0% insecticide.
- “I’m not dogmatic in my practices – if I consider that no-till or direct seeding on a crop, in a field or in a given year is sensible and might reduce my costs, then I’ll do it. But nothing is automatic, I tend to reason in terms of agronomy and margin on my productions. What’s important to me is technical agility in relation to the agronomic context.”
- Development of the project AgriMindLab: a meeting place for farmers from all regions. Coaching sessions organised for up to 6 farmers who come together in a collective workshop to find new solutions to the challenges they face, and to secure leeway in how they manage their enterprises.
His results
- Lower input and mechanisation expenses.
- Between 30% and 50% lower diesel costs – dropping from 20kl to 10-12kl of fuel per year.
- Noticeable soil quality improvement, in terms of soil structure and biodiversity.
- Thanks to collaborative research, coaching and the use of innovative methods, the famers are finding tangible answers to their needs.
- AgriMindLab falls within the Co-Farming theme. In 2018, the project won the Bayer Better Idea competition in the “co-farming” category.
Find out more
This profile was written by AgrOnov, the agroecology innovation hub.
