Hi
Question from left field (ha ha), but does anyone know how to find which dairy farms would be the big ones? I'm helping an agricultural product company export to France. Needless to say, the Chambre d'Agriculture won't tell me (rightly so, they're there to support and advise, not to give out commercially-sensitive information).
I have a list of hundreds in Brittany, from Annuaires. I've tried conjugating it with INSEE information giving the average herd size by canton, but that still gives me too many farms in total.
I've thought about sorting by business structure, but the various structures: EURL, EARL, SCEA and GEAC - and of course SARL - don't give much of a clue, as the choice of business structure doesn't necessarily bear any relation to the size of the business. Even if it did, the business size overall might not be related to the herd size, as the business might be made up of different élévages combined, and even crops.
Any clues gratefully received
Regards
Emily
I asked my customer this morning and he said the 2 organisations he has to declare the size of the herd to is the Direction départementale de territoire (DDT) and the Chambre d'Agriculture. Whether they will divulge any info to you remains to be seen.
Steve
Hello Emily,
I was doing some market research a couple of years back for the aeronautical sector, and came across a company called Society.fr (it was that or similar); they had listed some basic financial information - turnover, etc. If you wanted more detailed info, you could pay a small fee for it. It's been a while, but perhaps that might be of use?
Also, the Chambre de Commerce has a (paid for) list of all the companies registered by sector, region, etc. Company directors, contacts (numbers, emails), really useful for the research I was doing. Perhaps you've already got this info though.
Good luck!
Lynda
hi there just happened on this thread by chance (like you do) try this, seems if you start off researching the massive central you will be half way there http://www.terresdeurope.net/en/french-dairy-cows-beef.asp
Just realised I am fixing a PC for a dairy farmer, will ask them when I take it back.
Around here the number of dairies is reduing rapidly. I have a neighbour who drives a milk tanker and he is now delivery 100km away as the local dairies are now shut.
or you could go and look at them? :)
more seriously, but possibly not helpfully, take a look at where the main supermarchés get their milk from. Their suppliers may be getting their milk from more than one farm, but those farms are likely to be larger commercial concerns.
Trying to imagine what would make a farm divulge the size of its herd and am struggling to think of anything. People who might have a clue would be the suppliers (vets, feed merchants) or customers (eg dairies) but would they pass on info to you ? There is also presumably some sort of union they all belong to but again would they pass on the info ? Have you tried asking a friendly farmer ?
I reckon your best route will be going by turnover and accepting that it might not be all milk related.