France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. Francis Nappez, the Managing Director of Hectar, explains the institution’s goals using a map hanging from the wall of a conference room showing all the agricultural regions of France.. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. Bérénice Giot, an animal handler at Hectar’s experimental cow farm, milks the cows. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. Julie Renoux, Director of the Pilot Farm at Hectar, an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. Visitors taking part in a corporate retreat held on Hectar’s rural campus. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
Portugal
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. A grain field on Hectar’s rural campus. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. Shared bicycles available for staff members and visitors to Hectar’s rural campus. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. A Hectar staff member works on an outdoors table on the rural campus. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/29. Mathieu Jouffroy, a coder working on agricultural projects in Hectar’s business accelerator program. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/30. Cows graze at the fields surrounding Hectar’s experimental cattle farm. The collars around their necks provide data that helps to optimize their management. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/30. Francis Nappez, the Managing Director of Hectar passes the microphone to Hectar’s founder, Audrey Bourolleau, before a presentation of incubated projects during an event on Hectar campus. Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/30. Audrey Bourolleau, the founder of Hectar, an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/06/30. Francis Nappez, the Managing Director of Hectar, an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Lévis Saint Nom France
- France, Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, 2022/07/01. Elise Dercourt the lead agronomist at NeoFarm, inspects the hedge surrounding one of the company’s outdoor vegetable plots. NeoFarm is an organic vegetable farm that makes intensive use of technology. It also develops technology to be sold to other small farms seeking to reproduce its technology intensive agro-ecological model. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche France
France, Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, 2022/07/01. Tomatoes growing at one of NeoFarm’s greenhouses. NeoFarm is an organic vegetable farm that makes intensive use of technology. It also develops technology to be sold to other small farms seeking to reproduce its technology intensive agro-ecological model. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche France
France, Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, 2022/07/01. Mikael Arguedas, NeoFarm’s robotics software lead, inspects one of the robots developed by the company at work in one of its greenhouses. NeoFarm is an organic vegetable farm that makes intensive use of technology. It also develops technology to be sold to other small farms seeking to reproduce its technology intensive agro-ecological model. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche France
France, Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, 2022/07/01. Indoor vegetable plots at NeoFarm, an organic vegetable farm that makes intensive use of technology. It also develops technology to be sold to other small farms seeking to reproduce its technology intensive agro-ecological model. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche France
France, Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, 2022/07/01. Just harvested radishes at NeoFarm, an organic vegetable farm that makes intensive use of technology. It also develops technology to be sold to other small farms seeking to reproduce its technology intensive agro-ecological model. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche France
France, Levis Saint Nom, 2022/07/01. Cow graze at the fields surrounding Hectar’s experimental cattle farm. The collar around her neck provide data that helps to optimize her management. H Hectar is an experimental campus which aims to find a new, more sustainable, model for farming making intensive use of technology. It consists of a training campus, a start-up and innovation accelerator, a pilot farm in regenerative agriculture, and co-working spaces. Photograph by Andre Vieira. Portugal
Hectar, founded by the French tech mogul Xavier Niel and Audrey Bourolleau, a former advisor to French President Emanuel Macron, îs an ambitious attempt to reinvent the agricultural way of life in order to make it appealing for a new generation of farmers, with a big focus on technology. Sustainability, both environmental and economic, is its core value.
Situated in an old farm in the outskirts of Paris, the campus is a mixture of university, business incubator and tech startup, frequently bubbling with activity. It has a model farm where business models are tested, with the permanent concern of developing a way of life in which farmers are entitled to a regular and predictable work day, weekends off and yearly vacations.
Around the year, international groups of entrepreneurs bring they business ideas to develop them into solid business models, during bootcamps that attract investors, mentors and fellow entrepreneurs. There are many who come from farming families, trying to keep their family heritages alive without compromising their environmental values and aspirations for quality of life. Others are newcomers to the countryside, often leaving behind solid corporate careers in search of a new, more fulfilling way to live their lives. Uniting them is a desire to devise a new way to thing the farm and what it means to be a farmer.