DISCOVER CUMA
Do you know the Cuma?
French Cumas are farmers groups sharing equipment, best practices, ideas and sometimes staff. They also are very local economic players, championing the values of solidarity, helping to strike a balance between food and energy production, farmers and their families’ way of life, and rural communities..
Definition : what is a Cuma ?
Cuma in French stands for Coopérative d’Utilisation de Matériel Agricole (farm machinery cooperative). They are typically local cooperatives where farmers pool resources (machinery, labour, sheds, workshops…) . There is around 115000 of them all over France.
Thanks to a specific legal framework, their members are able to significantly lower machine-related spendings in their own business, as well as access the latest technology options and rationalise farming on-site operations.
Members are thus more efficient, innovative and share the risks associated with investment.
The Cuma is also a place to share experiences and spread new practices, to engage in ongoing training, to get involved in local development and establish social ties based on solidarity.
Cuma : benefits for the farms
- Improves every member’s farm economic performance by lowering production charges. Cumas allow their members to lower the financial burden of buying farm equipment, where mechanisation typically amounts to 30% of the total expenditure of an average farm (sometimes up to 50%).
- Improves the work conditions of its members by accessing modern, up-to-date farming equipment. Cumas members can also share staff, so they can hire at a very competitive rate qualified professionals to support them in their day-to-day assignments, from tillage, harvest, or animal-care to admin work and sales.
- Improve working conditions by rationalising collective farming on-site operations.
- Strengthening social bonds between farmers, their local community and beyond.
Cuma : benefits for territories and economic activity
- Allow new farmers settlements, especially for newcomers who can’t benefit from a settled family farm
- Improve greatly farms indebtment and the farmers final revenue
- Create stable, locally-rooted and qualified jobs
- Develop short supply chains: collective processing workshops contribute to local economic activity.
Cuma : benefits for innovation and the environment
- Drive innovation: the Cuma are great project incubators which enhance competitive, sustainable and quality-driven farming in rural communities all over France
- Help spread the use and competences related to new technologies (precision, robots, no-till techniques, …)
- Adopt environmentally-friendly practices: agro-ecology, controlled irrigation, mechanical weeding…
- Improve energy performance and self-sufficiency: Indirect energy savings (shared machines),improve fuel efficiency, develop renewable energy projects throughout the territories (biogas units, shared photovoltaic surfaces, woodchip-electricity or heat through hedges management…)
Federated Cuma within a strong federated network
The Cuma benefit from an integrated support network: federations at different levels (departmental or interdepartmental federations, grouped together in regional federations).
At the national level, the head of that network, the Fédération nationale des cuma, represents cuma and farmers from all over France. It articulates and voices their demands to national authorities.
The FNcuma:
- Represents and advocates for the interests of the Cuma,
- Provides advice and technical, economic and legal support,
- Facilitates change through training,
- Organizes demonstrations, experiments and tests with the manufacturers/dealers,
- Provides IT and management tools specifically tailored to Cuma’s activities,
- Drives projects to develop new cooperative forms of organisation that meet the organizational and functional needs of innovative territorial projects.
Key figures
With its network of more than 10,000 cooperatives, Cuma truly are key stakeholders in the development of agricultural operations and regions.
On average, mechanisation costs represent 18% of operating costs, adding up to over 18 billion euros. Sharing equipment between Cuma allows savings of up to 20% in this area.
In a changing agricultural climate, this cost-cutting measure is therefore vital but it is not the only added value Cuma have to offer.
Rethinking labour organisation methods by including the development of shared jobs is vital to meeting demand for a workforce specialised in the use and repair of increasingly high-performance equipment.
Key figures: Cuma in France
Cuma in France
Cuma members in France
members on average per Cuma
Cuma are created and managed by volunteer farmers, who can become administrators, elected among their members. Each member can vote in general assemblies (election of directors, approval of their management, etc.) whatever the financial investment did in the Cuma.
Key figures: Cuma activities
Iconic equipment in Cuma
Mechanization remains the main activity of the Cuma. Their activities cover a multitude of agricultural work using machines.
With 250,000 pieces of equipment in operation, the Cuma have a diversity of self-propelled equipment and towed equipment.
equipments owned by Cuma
Key figures: economic activity
Cuma turnover network members
Total investment
