Issues linked to the farming industry are paving the way for discussion on the various challenges facing society.
Throughout the 20th century, trees were wiped out of the farming landscape first by tractors, and then by the successive rural redivision of land. In the age of intensive farming and overexploitation of soil, the hedgerows traditionally used to delineate fields and meadows gradually disappeared. And as a result of these small hedged fields being thrown out in favour of massive fields sprawling as far as the eye can see, the number of farmers in France has dropped significantly: there are fewer than 900,000 today, compared to four million in the early 1960s. This disfigured landscape is now joined by an environmental and food crisis.
![Phil Hatcher-Moore, Committed to reforestation in France](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PHM_FRA_Plantons_018_3563-2.jpg)
As the world wakes up to the limits of available natural resources, I found it fascinating to meet the men and women who have opted for alternatives that put nature and Mother Earth back at the centre of how we approach farming.
Across France, a handful of farmers are putting up a fight, turning to organic farming and working with local charities to recreate the natural hedges that were once home to an incredible biodiversity that shaped the landscape, nourished the land and protected crops. These initiatives have led to agroforestry appearing and thriving on French soil: a type of farming that combines generating forestland and growing crops, whether temporary or permanent.
![Lucie Moy is a market gardener in Bioussac. After spending a long time travelling, she met her husband Jonas and decided to return home to take over her father’s farm, where she primarily grows cereal crops and runs a small pop-up side business selling buckwheat pancakes.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_013_3320-3.jpg)
![Jérôme left Paris at the age of 22. Despite training as a cartographer, he decided he no longer wanted to spend his life staring at a screen. He moved to the suburbs of Niort and began planting fruit trees behind his house. While he doesn’t make huge profits, he has found the rich hub of life he was yearning for.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PHM_FRA_Plantons_021_3758.jpg)
![Soline and Florence, the two daughters of Nicolas and Fanny, playing in the tree near the family home.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_027_9743-3.jpg)
![Accompanied by one of her two daughters Soline, Fanny Petit works on one of her two plots of land in Vançais, in the Deux-Sèvres department of France, where she grows more than fifty plant varieties. She moved there in 2011.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PHM_FRA_Plantons_022_9698.jpg)
![Antony Bureau, in his field in L’Angevinière in the Mauges region. Having taken over his parents’ farm, this young biodynamic farmer began replanting hedgerows across his land in order to recreate the sort of wooded countryside that would benefit his 33 cows.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_001_2657-5.jpg)
![Lin is a Highland calf, a Scottish breed of cattle known for its flowing red coat. On her cattle farm in Ardes in the Auvergne region of France, Sylvie Monier, winner of the 2008 Terre de Femmes Yves Rocher Foundation Award, decided to focus exclusively on Highland cattle, a particularly hardy and versatile breed capable of adjusting to all kinds of terrains.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_002_9875-2.jpg)
![Sylvie and her partner Stéphane have a very deep and special bond with their animals. They have learnt to communicate with them, and have succeeded in establishing a real sense of trust. Their cows spend seven years in the fields before being sent to the slaughterhouse.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_035_9879-2.jpg)
![En plus de son activité d’éleveuse, Sylvie Monier, prix Terre de Femmes 2008, a cofondé l’AFAC (avec laquelle travaille la Fondation Yves Rocher dans la plantation de haies) et va régulièrement former et sensibiliser ses pairs agriculteurs à l’importance et aux avantages de l’agroforesterie.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_036_4054-2.jpg)
![Meet Baptiste Boré, a young organic farmer in La Pommeraye, in the Maine-et-Loire region. His goal? To replant all the hedgerows his grandfather tore up during France’s land redistribution movement. He reached an agreement with the neighbouring town to bring his cows to graze on fields that don’t belong to him.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_010_9207.jpg)
![A la Pommeraye, dans le Maine-et-Loire, Baptiste Boré est un jeune éleveur bio. Son but ? Replanter toutes les haies que son grand-père avait arrachées lors du remembrement des terres. Il a passé un accord avec la commune voisine pour faire venir brouter ses vaches sur des champs qui ne lui appartiennent](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_011_9354.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore : cultivatrice et planteuse d’arbres en France](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_013_3320-3-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore: replanting fruit trees near Niort in France](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PHM_FRA_Plantons_021_3758-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore: children playing in trees and experiencing nature](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_027_9743-3-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore: growing local plant varieties](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/PHM_FRA_Plantons_022_9698-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore: a biodynamic farmer replanting hedgerows to recreate wooded countryside](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_001_2657-5-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore : Sylvie Monier lauréate Terre de Femmes et éleveuse de Highland et planteuse d’arbres en Auvergne.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_002_9875-2-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore: a Highland cattle breeder who works in unison with the soil, plants and animals.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_035_9879-2-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore: Sylvie Monier teaches her fellow farmers about the benefits of agroforestry.](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_036_4054-2-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore: planting hedgerows to counteract the effects of historic land redistribution in the Maine-et-Loire region](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_010_9207-293x293.jpg)
![Phil Hatcher-Moore : cultivatrice et planteuse d’arbres en France](https://www.yves-rocher-fondation.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/PHM_FRA_Plantons_011_9354-293x293.jpg)
PHIL HATCHER-MOORE: A COMMITTED ALTRUIST
For its third commission, the Yves Rocher Foundation chose British photojournalist Phil Hatcher-Moore, who set off to explore three of France’s regions (Brittany, the Pays de la Loire and Auvergne), meeting the men and women fighting to safeguard the land.
Born in 1972, Phil Hatcher-Moore lives and works in Wales and spent a long time covering news in East Africa, having been based in Nairobi (Kenya) for five years. In particular, he reported on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, focussing on M23 rebels in the east of the country. Phil is passionate about drawing our attention to our changing societies, from the dramas unfolding in the Balkans or in Pakistan to the repercussions of nuclear testing in Kazakhstan. His strength lies in his ability to get close to the people he photographs, bearing witness to history in the making.