Sales office in France

We have been living at the foot of the Larzac for over 20 years.
Since 2010, we have maintained our ‘direktemang’ office right on top of it.

‘THE LARZAC’ was a legend in the 1970s, associated with a region whose remoteness and wildness are most comparable to the Swabian Alb. However, since the Larzac is home to French revolutionaries rather than Swabians, its story is not a prank but a serious chapter in recent history—most notably the 1999 dismantling of a McDonald’s in Millau.

At an altitude of almost 800 metres, the Larzac is one of the many plateaus in southwestern France, approximately a three-hour drive from Barcelona. This is where the distinctive roll of the Spanish “R” begins. In May, breathtakingly beautiful orchids bloom along roadsides and across stony pastures, and this is where the world-famous Roquefort cheese comes from.
Misty November days in the middle of summer are not uncommon. Nor are bright blue skies in a stubborn February. Walls of rain can form in seconds and chase away a midsummer heat wave that has lingered for days. Faster than you can imagine, a drizzle turns to snow and, in the blink of an eye, even the sheep outside the office slip on the black ice.

The people here are a breed of their own: reserved, proud and hard-working. In the past, the gifted children went to the seminary in Rodez, whilst the others followed the family tradition as they always had, whether as shepherds, farm labourers, in the cellars of Roquefort or, if need be, as ne’er-do-wells at the ‘Grande Café’ or ‘Chez Albain’.

Today, the landscape is changing. Perhaps one might find a job on the Millau Viaduct, in the tourism industry, or ‘something else after all’ in Roquefort.
Only one thing remains the same: ultimately, everyone is happy when their children and grandchildren have found work in faraway Paris, bringing an end to the hardships of life in the impoverished department of Aveyron (at least for their own family). As a side note, it is interesting to know that a large proportion of Parisian bistros are run by ‘emigrants’ from the Aveyron. The local regional cuisine enjoys an excellent reputation, as the largely unspoilt countryside provides the essentials of life that have now become a luxury: porcini mushrooms, chestnuts, sheep’s cheese, lamb, wild berries and game.

The plateau has been swept clean by winds for centuries. There are no trees, only low shrubs. Consequently, there is no fertile soil either, only stony ground. Nothing offers shelter; nothing is sheltered. The wind whistles past our ears, driving tears into our eyes and driving all living creatures into the barn and the house.

When the French government was looking for sites for military exercises in the 1970s, Larzac quickly sprang to mind. It was a deserted region where land ownership was often held solely by children and grandchildren who lived far away in distant cities. Local farmers were struggling to make ends meet, dependent on the large Roquefort dairies.
That was how the protesters of the time saw it.
Thirty years on, their vision of independent local farming is visible on the ground and “available to buy” in organic shops. But more on that later.

As is often the case in life, even back then there were some farmers who were unwilling to tolerate the expansion of the existing military zone. The government’s plan envisaged that the whole of Larzac was to become a restricted military zone. It would no longer be possible to drive through the ‘training camp of death’ (‘champ d’entraînement pour la mort’), but instead one would have to ‘meander’ around it at a considerable distance.
But this was not the greatest concern; far worse was the realisation that a natural area was to be turned into a war zone.

Before the residents of the village of La Cavalerie and the rest of the local population realised what was happening, Paris had already bought up a considerable amount of land and had become the principal owner of an unspoilt natural environment. Not, however, to preserve it, but to convert it into a war zone.

In 1971, the legendary mobilisation began, a tail of the ’68 movement. Hundreds flocked to Larzac, spent the night in tents, set up a protest village and occupied the land. People stayed as long as their money or holiday allowance allowed, and some remained until the resistance was firmly established. In Germany, we eagerly took part in demonstrations calling for a ‘free Larzac’. The hard core – the Larzac commuters – kept us up to date at regular information evenings.
I myself was right in the thick of it, back in Heidelberg at the time, although (to be honest) I didn’t really know where Larzac actually was. In the world we lived in back then, the south of France felt like a faraway adventure.
For followers like me, fate apparently had a more radical plan in store. And so I ended up here, most likely the last remnant of the Heidelberg “For a Free Larzac” initiative.
Guided by the Larzac motto ‘For a Free Life’, we have invested enormous trust and hard work in building an independent existence, and we have taken the leap into freedom within this peculiar landscape with its headstrong history.

Yet we are not alone—the story continues:
by the time the military camp expansion project was abandoned in 1981, the French state had purchased 6,300 hectares of land spread across 12 municipalities. In the meantime—after 10 years of conflict—many of the demonstrators and activists on the Larzac had settled there, found jobs in Millau (such as Michèle Vincent as head of the municipal library), set up a cheese co-operative with their fellow campaigners (such as André Parentie, whose sheep’s cheese is sold as a speciality in German organic shops), or even pursued careers in European politics (such as José Bové).
Together with the farmers who had taken part in the resistance and the squatters (or rather, the farm occupiers) of the land purchased by the military, a management company (SCTL) was established. This agreement followed tough negotiations with the Ministry of Defence and was initially limited to 30 years. When the initial 30-year term expired in 2013, the still-active ‘Larzacians’ successfully negotiated an extension, ensuring that the show goes on and that the Larzac remains a flagship example of revitalising and preserving unique countryside.
Despite the nearby high-tech Millau Viaduct, the motorway and the steady stream of tourists, the region preserves its pastoral character.Young farmers can now rent a farm and manage it sustainably until retirement. After that, a solution for the time beyond will be found in collaboration with the executive committee of the 85 associates. Efforts are also being made to sort this out.

The second organisation, GFA, emerged from the protest movement with the goal of buying land to keep it out of military hands. Land continues to be acquired on a regular basis—bringing the total to 1,200 hectares to date—so that additional farmers can settle on the Larzac without any initial financial investment of their own, though they do not own the land, as every new parcel belongs to the community as well.

Many of the farms have now converted to organic production. In 1993, we visited the ‘Bergers du Larzac’ cheese dairy, which belongs to the association, together with Hermann Beer and Bruno Schilcher, and laid the foundations for our later collaboration. Today, the cheese dairy is our immediate neighbour.

Life on the Larzac has largely faded from the headlines; the Heidelberg activists of that time may have retired or moved on.
What remains is a way of life that has carried its traditions into the 21st century. The expansion was ultimately halted, and the rest of the Larzac was left to the locals and the protesters. The military camp is now a European military training camp, and while there is still occasional shooting or flares at night, Today, the former military site hosts a European training camp, and local residents even use its facilities for sports courses.

The anti-military initiative has left a lasting legacy: a vibrant community that balances quality of life with responsible employment.
Without realising it, former German Larzac activists now purchase the fruits and cheeses of their protest days at the organic shop, thereby supporting the project of their youth in a traditional way.
Knowing this may well make some of us feel content and happy, and that is also the purpose of this piece written by a cheese seller on the Larzac.