Hosting Maria do Ceu Batista da Silva and Adriana Galvão Freire in France

Adriana Galvão Freire is a technician at ASPTA and Maria do Ceu Batista da Silva is an agro-ecological farmer and member of the board of the Borborema Family Farming Union, one of ATTER's Brazilian case study territories. In April, they both took part in ATTER's Open Conference in Brussels, followed by successive stays in the Ardèche and Montpellier regions, hosted by Claire Lamine and Eric Sabourin. As the Borborema region is affected by large-scale wind farm projects that threaten the farming activities of small farmers, they wanted to meet French farmers and networks who are also campaigning against electricity production projects or the way in which these are imposed or supported locally. They were able to talk to two groups in the Ardèche and Larzac who are campaigning against large-scale ground-based photovoltaic farms, farmers and elected representatives from the Ardèche who took part in the debates on the installation of the first wind turbines in the department, the director of ENERCOOP Montpellier, members of a solar energy production cooperative on Larzac and many other players and initiatives (SCIC D'Ardèche et de Saison, Coop Bergers du Larzac, collective shops, etc.). For their part, the French networks have learned a great deal from the experience of mobilising the Borborema networks.