The small pensions of France, Auguste

Auguste, Sainte-Eulalie-de- Cernon, hamlet on the Larzac plateau, 2022

Auguste, 86 years old, is a farmer from Larzac. His farm is located in Sainte-Eulalie-de-Cernon, a hamlet on the Larzac plateau. He was born in this farm (which comes from his mother) and he has always lived there. He started to work at 15 years old, with his parents. Then after their death, he took over the farm with his wife Francette. Auguste has 3 children: Jean-Louis, Christian and Michelle. Auguste has been contributing to the agricultural mutual insurance company since he was 15 years old, he has a pension of 800€. He retired at 61 years old, because his son Jean Louis wanted to take over the farm, but he did not really start to work until he was 80 years old. Auguste never went on vacation and worked all his life 7 days a week, because the ewes require a lot of time, with milking in the morning and evening. At the beginning, he had 20 ewes; today, he has 330 ewes, or 330 hectares, because a ewe needs one hectare to live well. Auguste, in spite of his small pension, manages to make a living from it: "Here, it's not like in the city; we manage to find food and I don't need more because I don't move; I just go around the table," he says with a smile. Auguste and his son Jean-Louis raise their sheep under the organic farming label and work to maintain biodiversity. Auguste was a signatory of the oath of the 103 against the extension of the military camp in Larzac.