Charles and Perrine Hervé-Gruyer

March 14, 2022 Global Earth Repair

Charles and Perrine Hervé-Gruyer are a “power couple” that decided to become low impact farmers in 2006 with their Bec Hellouin Permaculture Farm. The couple was untainted by knowledge of conventional western practices and took on the principles of permaculture as well as varied sources and practices of the 19th century Parisian Market Gardener’s, Amazonian tribes people, and Asian Efficient Micro-organisms (EM) related practices.

Charles had been a sailor, Perrine an international lawyer; their efforts to grow food without mechanisation or chemicals were often ridiculed in the early years. But their farm in Normandy is now established as the premier permaculture farm in France. It is also the source of a number of scientific studies showing that it’s possible to make a living wage by growing food using permaculture techniques on just a qun through full-time subsistence fararter of an acre of land.

Interested by the performances of such a small farm, INRA (The National Institute of Agricultural Research) and AgroParisTech (a major French Graduate Institute in Science and Engineering) have conducted from 2011 to 2015 a research program entitled “Organic growing in permaculture and economic performance” which aim was to record and report their methods and yields. This study concluded that small scale farming done entirely by hand is highly efficient and productive. The couple continues to keep on organising research programs related to biodiversity, carbon capture and the forest garden systems.

The Ferme du Bec Hellouin demonstrates that another world is within reach. Each year, several hundreds of participants attend the permaculture trainings offered on the site. Whether they are former locksmiths, large-scale farm worker, landscape architect, or lawyer, all share a common search for greater consistency about the way we live on this planet, and how to feed ourselves healthily while preserving it for future generations.

All of a sudden, things started to align, and everything became simpler. We tried to create something beautiful and nature has offered us incredible results in return….Our exploration has led to something incredibly important for mankind – agriculture which is not just sustainable but restorative.