Regional court of Brittany Agriculture

The Departmental Rooms of Agriculture gathered their research activities and development with those of the Regional court of Brittany Agriculture (CRAB). Their objectives are:

• to anticipate tomorrows markets of with the economic futurology, in particular through prospective work of the economic observatory of agribusiness industries which clarify the strategic decisions of the political and economic decision makers

• to encourage the qualification of the exploitations on the basis of the voluntariate and the farmers responsibility, through the existing charters produced and a schedule of conditions recovering the quality standards of the productions, the environments, the landscapes, the social relations. It can be considered as a step towards the farms certifications to ISO 9000 or 14000

• to protect the natural resources. If water is a major stake, the landscapes are also an important concern. The Regional Chamber pilots and coordinates the Harmony program which receives financial support from the Regional Council for the beautification and development of farmyards, insertion of farm buildings in the landscape, replanting hedges, the grove maintenance and landscaping

• to prepare with the jobs of tomorrow. The regional observatory Employment/Formation, set up by the Room, has as a role to follow the fluxes “inputs and outputs” jobs in agriculture. That makes it possible to anticipate the needs to come, to facilitate candidates longer-term research, to conduct the formations according to the requests. The observatory publishes the trades reference frame of the animal farm and analyzes in-depth the qualifications necessary for each trade concerned

• to invest in the applied research. It is a unique case in France: the Breton agricultural profession obtained an applied research stations network coordinated and mutualized at the regional level (http://www.bretagne.synagri.com/ca1/PJ.nsf/TECHPJPARCLEF/03365/$File/Plaquette.pdf). Each year, the Brittany agriculture Rooms invest a share of their budget there. They profit in addition from important financial supports of the regional Council, the general Councils, the Institute of the Animal farm and the ANDA (National Association of the Agricultural Development). The development of “good husbandries”, the reduction of the production costs and the organization of work, the agriculture of accuracy constitute the principal topic studied by Breton stations. The network of the vegetable stations supplements this device

• to support the new services and the new markets (development of the quality signs, organic farming, tourism and the reception in rural environment, new dies with short circuits of marketing, teaching farms…)

• to promote Breton agriculture to the general public by combining media relations, operations in the city, open doors in the exploitations, reception of town children, promotional demonstrations, use of New technologies of Information Communication, in order to supplement the actions already led in farmers direction and prescribers (regional days, SPACE…).

(http://www.bretagne.synagri.com/ca1/synagri.nsf)