The bird flu epidemic has become annual.

The virus continued to develop during last summer, especially in areas where poultry farming is very intense and intense, such as the departments of Vendee and Deux-Sevres. What until now was a winter disease has also appeared in summer.

Once again the State follows the same logic and also tightens the measures.

They forced us to hold the cabals inside, they said it was for a short term. If before the admission was three months, it is for almost every year. In case of preventative death. This is a very technical subject in which, depending on the areas or the birds, the conditions are not the same for everyone, but it can be said that the area of preventive slaughter extends from ten kilometres to thirty kilometres, where if a case of contagion occurs all the birds in the area are killed. We condemn for ourselves preventative death, but it has also been shown that it has no positive effect, as the epidemic is constantly repeated. We condemn the state's comprehensive management of avian influenza.

Some have opted for disobedience: they have left the cabals out. You get a letter from the Administration.

We received a letter indicating that we had a period of three days to access the rules, that is, the cabals. At the end of last year, they went through the houses to control. We didn't see them, but they passed by and saw the chickens outside sent us a letter. Three of our group did not answer them and we received a second letter threatening the fine or the ban on working. We contacted the prefet again and asked us to send our arguments. We sent them and since then we have no news. We're in the fog. It is also difficult because the prefet is new; last winter we were negotiating, supposedly some things were advanced, but when it goes, another comes and we have to start all over again. It's hard.

You worry.

Yes. It's summer, not for the moment, but if with the fall the virus has come back, then we'll be back in black.

They suffer the shock of two cultivation models.

It's always. There are rules for agro-industry. Following with biosecurity, we must change the clothes between different spaces, disinfect the car… What is meant for the agroindustry cannot be applied on our farms. I leave two or three times a day to distribute the eggs, I have chickens of different ages… I cannot change my clothes every time or disinfect the car. They are regulations in favour of agro-industry, which gradually kill us. We want to work, we want to live.

The farms are disappearing...

Firstly, we know that there is not always a guaranteed continuity in cultivation, but in poultry farming the situation is even more serious. It appears in our environment: those approaching the race leave poultry farming and young people do not depart because they are very afraid of regulations. Although food is deficient in the Basque Country, the context leads us to associate ourselves with cultivation. Farms were vacated and what was always occupied by agro-industry.

What is the vaccine option?

It is not too clear. The vaccine is ready dry. We must be aware that up to now the industry was against it because the introduction of the bird bans exports to some countries. Iduriz would now be ready. But how would they apply it? That is our anguish. For the time being, they say that with the vaccine they will not be able to take the cabals off and that if they do not respect biosafety they will not have a vaccine. The vaccine can be an aid tool, but you have to look at the conditions of use and the rules to see if it is really useful. And who would pay? It will be carary and if it is not paid by the State, the farmer will not be able to pay it. At the moment nothing is clear. The last premise for administration is the vaccine. They test everything and don't get it, so they put hope in the vaccine. We say that if you do not typify density, you will not solve the problem.

They have organised a demonstration for Saturday.

We hope to bring a lot of people closer together. We also call on the elected representatives because they have a responsibility, and of course consumers. We should not think that we are talking about jokes or lies: in fact, if the law does not change, it will be the end of external growth.

Agro-industrial lobbies are still being heard: conditions for access to the term “external growth” are becoming more and more agile.

There's a big paradox. Due to environmental problems, people are becoming aware, they want to consume differently, we have to bear in mind that another cultivation model is very appetizing – ecological, popular, external growth,… – and at the same time the law goes backwards. We're getting less and bigger.