Jean-Paul Capitani

The void. All of a sudden. Brutally.
This emptiness was followed by a fullness. We were all in shock. And all connected.

He is therefore still one of the old spokespersons for organic farming, agroecology, vegetarian for decades, who refused to drink non-organic wine, the one who allowed so many actors and thinkers to construct their thoughts by writing them down to share them through books, which is disappearing. Jean-Paul Capitani.

Jean-Paul liked to introduce himself as: “Peasant-Editor”.
An agronomist, Jean-Paul gave an agronomic color to Actes Sud publishing by participating in building a cultural base for agroecology. Thank you for giving us Vandana Shiva, Pierre Rabhi, Eliot Coleman, Isabella Tree, Perrine and Charles Hervé-Gruyer to read, and all the classics from the Agronomic Library. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to meet all the committed actors, authors, entrepreneurs, farmers, artists who were staying at Méjan or at your place for a coffee, the writing of a book, a concert, a festival or a generous dinner.

Jean-Paul preferred to always see the cup half full, both literally and figuratively. He always wanted to see potential transformed into possibility and then into action.

He liked to quote Cyril Dion when he said: “We are the ones we are waiting for”.
This is what we wrote in the letter inviting many farms and estates to come together in 2021 at Domaine du Possible. Gathered together, we stated this: “Our way of producing by caring for living things is the only possible and desirable future. »

Jean-Paul loved the land, its toponymy, architecture and was passionate about the destiny of peasants.
We surveyed land together. The lands of the Domaine du Possible. The lands of Courances with Valentine, Markus and Bruno. The lands of They at Michel Evelyne and the whole team. The lands of Bozouls. The lands of Vigneux de Bretagne. The lands of Orvault. And we knew many others in common: the lands of Solan, the lands of Lablachère, the lands of Roche sur Grâne, the lands of Bec-Hellouin, the lands of Forest-Sur-Marque, the lands of Maguelonne.

We have worked on it and we are still working on it. More than ever. This is what Jean-Paul wanted.

We send our sweetest thoughts and support to his family, loved ones and all those he inspired.

Emilie Rousselou, Valentine de Ganay, Michel and Evelyne Devillairs, Aurélie Tacquard, Perrine Bulgheroni; core group of EUfarms, European Network of Agroecological Farms that we created together with Jean-Paul.