A Quiet, Ancestral Farm Life in Western France

Alan Taylor
Feb 20, 2018
20 Photos
In Focus

Over the course of several recent months, Reuters photographer Stéphane Mahé visited and photographed a farmer named Jean-Bernard Huon on his farm in western France. Huon, now 70, grew up here, and deliberately lives a traditional, non-mechanized farm life, favoring ox teams over tractors. From a Reuters article: “When farm machinery revolutionized French agriculture in the years after World War II, a young Jean-Bernard Huon turned his back on the new technology. Half a century later, in a corner of southern Brittany on France’s west coast, Huon still uses oxen to plow his fields, determined to preserve an ancestral, peasant way of life.”

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French farmer Jean-Bernard Huon, 70, carries hay at his farm in Riec-sur-Belon, France, on January 27, 2018. Huon's manual approach to subsistence farming makes him a rarity in the European Union's biggest agricultural economy. He shuns France's hypermarkets, instead selling his pork, veal, and butter to those who visit his ramshackle farm. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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French farmer Jean-Bernard Huon plows his land with oxen near his farm in Riec-sur-Belon, France, on October 25, 2017. In the last decade, he's made some concessions to comfort. He switched from work horses to oxen, which are more docile. More recently, as age imposes its own limits on his activities, he invested in two tractors for the heavy-lifting of hay. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Laurence, Jean-Bernard Huon's companion, works on land near their farm on October 25, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Huon and his companion, Laurence, have lunch at their farm on October 5, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Items are displayed on a windowsill at Huon's farm on October 5, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Laurence prepares butter at their farm on October 25, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Huon writes notes at a table on his farm on February 1, 2018. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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An old yoke hangs above a mantel on Huon's farm on October 25, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Jean-Bernard Huon holds an old family photograph on October 5, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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A dark sky hangs over a field near Huon's farm in Riec-sur-Belon, France, on December 14, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Huon at work on February 1, 2018. On the small farm where he grew up, the garrulous 70-year-old and his partner Laurence milk eight cows by hand, grind flour manually, and tirelessly collect manure to fertilize the crops that feed his livestock. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Huon inspects a barrel used for cider on October 24, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Geese walk by as Huon's partner, Laurence, works on October 24, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Farming equipment lies on the ground near the farm on October 25, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Huon and his friend Jeremy harvest beets on land near his farm on October 24, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Laurence unloads manure on land near their farm on October 25, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Jean-Bernard Huon walks with his oxen on his land near his farm on October 4, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Huon toasts with visiting bikers during an annual biker rally at his farm in Riec-sur-Belon on January 27, 2018. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Huon reads a book in his room on February 1, 2018. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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Light shines through a window of French farmer Jean-Bernard Huon's farmhouse in Riec-sur-Belon, France, on December 14, 2017. #

Stephane Mahe / Reuters

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