“I dreamed of becoming a farmer. Return to the land of my grandparents ... Even if everyone told me that it is difficult and not remunerative, "smiles Marc-Antoine Rabel. At 30, after an engineering manager's diploma, experience at the School of Reserve Officers in Saint-Cyr and a job in the KPMG audit firm in Caen and Rouen, the young man and his wife therefore decided to buy the Gros Caillou Farm from his family in Vannecrocq, near Pont-Audemer (Eure), dormant since the grandparents' retirement 30 years ago.
“My training and my experiences gave me a taste for clear management and resistance to stress, explains Marc-Antoine Rabel. A good school to acquire reflexes useful for the development of a modern farm! "
Five hectares to live locally
Thus, with three hectares of apple trees and a hectare and a half of pasture, the farmer "left with a white sheet". “My goal is to breed, produce and sell locally. Feed my neighbors, the inhabitants of the street and the village. Make quality to meet everyone. It's a bit like coming back to the real farm. The one of yesteryear, where we produced and sold at the market and nearby. For this, I have to position myself on clients who are looking for traceability. "
The young farmer assembles his apples to offer cider, apple juice, sparkling wine and "part of the harvest also goes to Busnel establishments" in order to become calvados. In addition to the seventeen sheep fed under apple trees to resell lambs, he set up a pig farm. "It's an old precept, but true: in the pig, everything is good! I learned the technique with other breeders. I buy piglets at 10 kg and have pigs slaughtered at 102 kg. This requires a little more than five months of feeding with a mixture of wheat, barley and corn, ”explains Marc-Antoine Rabel. Very soon, dozens of hens will also frolic in total freedom "for the eggs!" Indispensable on a farm ”.
The opening of a store in June
To live from "his passion job, to provide for his family and with the desire to give back to my children", the breeder opened in early June a store with refrigerated display case, a cold room and a room equipped with several vending machines : “I will also open them to other local producers for dairy products or beef. Here we will respond to all requests. The pleasure of farm purchases, passing and emergency supplies and orders. ” In the end, it is the grandmother who is "happy and proud, because she too did direct sales".
La Ferme du Gros Caillou, 856 route de Cormeilles to Vannecrocq (Eure). Information at 06.78.62.95.43 or by email: fermedugroscaillou@gmail.com
