the ecological question invites itself to the Meat Festival, in Mayenne

This is the tradition of meat lovers. The meat festival takes place until Sunday September 4, in Évron between Laval and Le Mans, in Mayenne. This gathering brings together cattle breeders and meat professionals from all over France. Under a large shed, 386 animals are exhibited. Each breeder came with his finest animals to put them up for sale.

“These animals are really top-of-the-range, very top-of-the-rangeexclaims Jean-Yves Renard, president of the Evron meat festival and president of the national federation of slaughter animals. It’s even better than the Label. There are Rouge des Prés, Parthenaises, Blondes d’Aquitaine, Limousins, Charolais, Blanc Bleu. And we bring in jurors from Belgium, from the north and from the south of France. Only meat professionals to classify these animals.”

A meat that can be eaten a few meters away on toast, in sandwiches or on the grill. For Jean-Yves Renard, calling for less meat is insulting breeders. “This minority hurts the breeders because it is still them who fill our plates morning, noon and eveningsays Jean-Yves Renard. I’m not against guys not eating meat but messing things up, I don’t agree. And meat doesn’t pollute any more than planes or big ships on cruises.”

According to the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) 1 kg of beef is equivalent to an emission of 27 kg of greenhouse gases. These issues, Samuel, a young breeder in the Sarthe, hears them and he is aware that the profession must adapt to climate change: “Today, we talk a lot about drought because we will have to get used to it. So it will be to set up crops to be able to feed our animals with fodder in particular in the years to come. You have to know what we consume, we have to know where it comes from.”

“You should know that in France, our first competitor is imports. Whether in all meats, it pollutes a lot. So I am in favor of consuming less but consuming better, it is to support the French sectors .”

Samuel, breeder

at franceinfo

Consuming French and local is also the fight of Marine Druesne, 30, butcher in Pas-de-Calais: “Today, you have to be flexitarian: eat everything in small quantities. You have to select your meat well, but as well these vegetables, like everything, there is no ‘false over-eating’, it’s a fair environment to have. It is necessary to check all that is traceability, to know and to inquire. To know where the animal comes from, from which breeding, from which sector it has crossed France or even, more than France, the food she had. I think it’s important. Afterwards, it’s the butcher’s job to do this job.”

A quality also sought after by the restaurateurs who choose their meat here. Bertrand Boulier has worked for 30 years in Mayenne and he has seen the requirements evolve. “Even if we pay a little more, today we really want to serve top-of-the-range, explains the restaurateur. 30 years ago, we did a lot of intensive work. We did a little bit of anything. Today, we have young farmers who are between 25 and 40 years old, who are really pros. We find a percentage of muscle in the meat which is really important for us, a super quality meat.”

Everyone here is campaigning for sustainable agriculture, halfway between organic farming and intensive farming. According to them, this is the only answer to defend both their know-how and the environment.