Building on the success of "L'Amour est dans le pré," M6 will launch a new show featuring farmers starting on June 28, 2023. In the program "Aidons nos fermes," agricultural producers are not looking for love but financial profitability. Here are 5 things to know about this unique concept.
"This is the new agricultural program on M6 channel."
The agricultural world seems to inspire the M6 channel, which has already been successfully broadcasting L'Amour est dans le pré presented by Karine Le Marchand since 2005. This time, it's not the bubbly host who presents the show, but Marie Portolano, whom viewers have already seen hosting the program Le Meilleur Pâtissier on M6. Another difference is that there won't be any love encounters in this program, but rather discussions about treasury and profitability. In the show "Aidons nos fermes", to be discovered from Wednesday, June 28 at 9:10 pm, an expert will help struggling family farms to diversify and regain some financial viability.
2- This program is an adaptation of an English concept.
Although this program is unprecedented in France, Aidons nos fermes is an adaptation of an English program called Our Family Farm Rescue. In this show broadcast on Channel 5, English farmer Adam Henson provides assistance to family farms.
The objective is the same in the French version, which offers a concept halfway between L'Amour est dans le pré and Cauchemar en cuisine! Farmers facing financial difficulties are coached by an expert to diversify their activities.
3- The show calls upon an expert from the agricultural world.
In Aidons nos fermes, the expert who supports agricultural farms is named Patrice Cougoureux. This 45-year-old expert comes from a family of farmers that has been passed down for 5 generations. He worked in banking and as an advertising manager for Le Paysan tarnais, a local press title in his native department of Tarn.
But above all, he took over the family farm 10 years ago and managed to save his family's business by switching to organic farming and diversifying his activities.
Despite his outspokenness, the one already nicknamed "the Philippe Etchebest of Aidons nos fermes" is gentler than the M6 star chef when it comes to coaching struggling farming families.
4- The first issue provides assistance to two families.
For its launch, initially scheduled for the national agricultural days from June 16 to 18 and then postponed to June 28, the show "Aidons nos fermes" (Let's help our farms) is supporting two farming families.
The Have family is located in Sainte-Croix-sur-Buchy in Normandy and has faced difficulties due to the dairy crisis. Today, their 122-hectare farm is shifting towards mixed farming and livestock and wishes to diversify into direct sales.
The Lang family is in Ormersviller in Moselle. This young couple took over a farm in 2016 but cannot earn a decent salary from their work.
Mylène came up with the idea of developing popcorn on the farm, and Patrice Cougoureux will advise them to organize farm visits to make their operation profitable while their family is about to grow.
5- The first broadcast required more than a year of filming.
To date, the Aidons nos fermes program only has one episode. Indeed, this concept requires a long shoot over a period of more than a year in order to follow the agricultural projects of the assisted families.
Regarding this new program, Guillaume Charles, the general director of programs at M6, declared: "It's a program that is close to our hearts. We have a historical relationship with the agricultural world, a profession in difficulty that undergoes many economic and climatic hazards."
A second episode could be shot by the end of 2024 if this new concept finds its audience. This is all we wish for this program that highlights an important profession to which the French are very attached.