7,400. This is the number of Leetchi online kitty, a company specializing in the field, which were created in 2024 in support of farmers. A figure that makes this most sustained profession in France. This momentum can be explained by the spotlight from which the profession benefited last year, at the time of agricultural challenge. If this year, the agricultural fair – which is held in Paris until March 2 – opened in a peaceful way, it was far from the case last year.
The 2024 edition, which had welcomed more than 600,000 visitors, had been marked by a hectic political context. Angry farmers in the face of the accumulation of administrative standards, upwards, and the draft free trade with Mercosur, had launched the movement “We walk on the head”. These demonstrations had allowed society to become aware of the daily difficulties of farmers, resulting in an increase in donations on online prize pools dedicated to the profession.
“The engines of the gift are the emotion aroused by a cause and the concept of proximity, explains Amandine Plas, marketing director at Leetchi. Unlike the donations made for a large structure, when someone makes a donation on Leetchi, he knows what his money is for.” Each solidarity kitty, always checked by the company, defends a clear cause.
Support for farmers who are confirmed
Last year, the prize prints created in support of farmers brought in nearly 5.8 million euros, an increase of more than 1.7 million euros compared to 2023. In total, agricultural prize pools counted for 8.7 % of all solidarity prize pools in 2024 and for farmers represented 73 % of the professions.
Jean-Christophe Bertrand, cattle breeder in organic farming, in Limousin, benefited from this momentum of generosity. After the death of eight of his calves following a virus, he had to face a loss of 18,000 euros, leading to significant financial difficulties. Although he tries to get out of it with the sale of his 26 hectares of meadows, then a receivership plan, the breeder finds himself forced to pay 90,000 euros of interest on his mortgage loan. In June 2024, after two and a half years of dispute, the court told him that he has less than a month left to pay part of this debt, otherwise he will proceed to a liquidation. “By learning the news, I wanted to give up, remembers Jean-Christophe Bertrand. I said to myself ‘too bad, I will do something else’. But my daughter refused and told me that we had to continue.”
Jean-Christophe Bertrand, organic cattle breeder in Limousin, created a solidarity kitty in June 2024 after the death of eight of his calves.
© / Cyrielle Bertrand
“You have to know how to put a handkerchief on your pride”
The process of launching a kitty was not easy. “It’s hard to ask for money, to make alms. But I had no choice, says the breeder. It was the last resort so as not to find myself outside. Sometimes, you have to know how to put a handkerchief on your pride.” Jean-Christophe is decided on the internet research. “I saw that a operator and her family had to face a loss of 200,000 euros. It had worked for her, so I could work for me too.”
With the help of his daughter Cyrielle, the one who describes himself as a combative sets up his kitty online. “The first days, we received 10 euros, then 50 euros and that did not stop increasing,” he describes admiring. Thanks to word of mouth, the media coverage and the sharing of his kitty on the networks, Jean-Christophe manages to collect 40,000 euros in three weeks. What suspend its liquidation. Nine months after the creation of his prize pool, it has 10,000 euros to find to reach its initial goal.
Increased solidarity prize pools
This solidarity use of Leetchi prize pools spontaneously developed in 2015. Following the Paris attacks, several projects to support the victims were born. “Little by little, we saw united prize pools appear to subsidize everything that affects the French in their daily lives: medical operations, the animal cause, support for the nursing staff during the COVID crisis …”, details Amandine Plas. In five years, the amount collected by the solidarity prize pools has made a voucher of more than 2,000 %. If these prize pools still represent only a small part of the general activity of the company (20 %), they are growing strongly and increased by 15 % between 2023 and 2024.
For Jean-Christophe, see that the French support his profession, “it warms the heart”. Hundreds of donors have left messages of encouragement under his prize pool: “This momentum encourages me to hang on and continue to raise my organic animals!”
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