André Marcel Voisin, born on January 7, 1903, in Dieppe, France, was a renowned French biochemist, farmer, and author. He is most famous for his groundbreaking work in developing the theory of Rational Grazing, also known as Voisinism, Voisin Grazing, or Rational Intensive Grazing. Voisin's theories and ideas on grazing practices have been widely acclaimed, leading to numerous lectures and the translation of his books into 18 different languages, with multiple reprints.
Voisin's upbringing revolved around agriculture as his parents, Albert Voisin and Marie Antoinette Morthe Legendre, were established farmers and landholders. He began his primary and secondary education at the Jehan Ango school in Dieppe, starting in 1910, and later attended the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris.
After completing his military service with the French navy and graduating as a lieutenant in 1923, Voisin pursued a diploma in biochemistry from the School of Physics and Chemistry, école supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris in 1924. Following his graduation, he initially worked as an engineer in a tire factory, where he made significant contributions to improving production efficiency. Later, he took on a senior engineering role at the firm SIT, further showcasing his ingenuity in developing innovative methods.
In 1936, Voisin traveled to the University of Heidelberg to enhance his proficiency in the German language. There, he completed a thesis titled "Goethe and France" and was honored with the distinction of becoming an Honorary Citizen of Heidelberg.
During the tumultuous period of World War II, Voisin's life took a different course. In 1943, he married Martha Rosine Fernagu in occupied Paris. At the outbreak of the war in September 1939, Voisin left his position in the rubber industry to actively participate in the war effort. Initially stationed with the French Navy in Algeria, he was involved in two naval missions in the Mediterranean and was severely injured during the second mission. After receiving initial treatment in Algiers, he spent four months in the Val-de-Grâce hospital in Paris.
Voisin engaged in various ground operations in France in 1940, including the Narvik Campaign. As the Fall of France loomed, he was ordered to evacuate to England. Alongside a small group, he embarked on a daring boat journey from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, which lasted several days, resulting in their successful arrival in England. In England, Voisin met with Admiral Thierry d'Argenlieu and was appointed as Secretary Attaché to Admiral Émile Muselier, the leader of the Free French Naval Forces.
In October 1940, Voisin returned to his family farm, "Le Talou," located on a 320-acre estate in Gruchet, south of Arques-la-Bataille, in occupied France. From 1941 to 1944, he played a vital role in the Resistance by covertly arranging food deliveries from his farm. Additionally, he worked as a translator for the mayor, Albert Thoumyer, in his dealings with the Nazi occupiers. In an act of bravery and compassion, Voisin successfully advocated for the pardon of a farmer who was facing execution by firing squad in March 1943.
After the liberation of Paris in August 1944, Voisin entrusted the care of Le Talou to his wife and traveled to Paris to meet with Admiral d'Argenlieu. He was assigned to a regiment of marine infantry and participated in various campaigns with the Free French forces, notably the intense but short-lived Battle of the Vosges in October. Voisin sustained injuries once again, this time in Benfeld.
In 1946, Voisin published his memoirs of the war, titled "A Single Foot on the Earth," based on his war diaries. The book was enriched with illustrations by Commander Luc-Marie Bayle, the official Navy artist.
Towards the end of 1945, after fulfilling his duty to his country, Voisin returned to Gruchet to pursue his true passion: farming.
Voisin found immense satisfaction in observing his cattle graze on the pasture. He began to notice distinct differences between the grazing behavior of cows and the process of mowing and feeding them hay. When a pasture is mown for hay, all the grass is cut at once. However, when cows graze, the pasture is only consumed at the pace they are able to eat. Additionally, while a cow in a feedlot can eat as much as it wants without moving, a cow in a pasture must actively seek out desirable sections of grass and graze on it bit by bit.
These observations led Voisin to realize that existing theories of grazing did not accurately describe the conditions of a grazing animal. Most scientific studies focused on either growing grass without grazing animals or feeding cut grass to animals in feedlots, rarely considering the behavior of cattle grazing on pasture. Voisin recognized that this interaction between the cow and grass, which he called "the meeting of cow and grass," was fundamentally different from either action performed alone.
This understanding led Voisin to a critical realization - time played a crucial role. The number of animals per acre was not the main factor in determining overgrazing, but rather the amount of time the plants were exposed to grazing animals. If animals remained on the pasture for too long, a palatable plant would be grazed a second time before it had a chance to recover from the initial grazing. Additionally, repeated grazing at short intervals prevented plants from achieving their maximum growth rate, limiting the amount of sunlight energy captured and converted into useful feed.
Voisin's work on his farm began to attract scientific attention, and he was invited to give lectures both domestically and internationally, including in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany. In 1956, he was appointed an associate professor at the National Veterinary School of Alfort and became a member of the Academy of Agriculture of France.
In 1954, Voisin recorded an effective stocking rate for the most productive part of the grazing season (10 May - 23 September) as 2.2 Livestock Units per acre. Before implementing rational grazing, Voisin claimed his stocking rate was only 0.6 LU/acre, demonstrating a significant growth in stocking rate through his methods.
Voisin eventually formulated his "four laws" of rational grazing, which he believed applied universally regardless of soil conditions, climate, altitude, latitude, or longitude. These laws were as follows:
First Law: A sufficient interval must elapse between two successive grazings to allow the grass to accumulate reserves in its roots for vigorous regrowth and produce a high daily yield per acre.
Second Law: The total occupation period of one paddock should be short enough so that the grass initially grazed on the first day is not cut again by the animals' teeth before they move to another paddock.
Third Law: Animals with higher nutritional requirements should be given access to the greatest quantity of high-quality grass.
Fourth Law: For optimal milk yields, a cow should not stay on the same paddock for more than three days. Maximum yields can be achieved when a cow is kept on a paddock for only one day.
These laws formed the foundation of Voisin's approach to rational grazing and represented his findings based on extensive observation and experimentation.
In June 1964, Voisin received an invitation from Fidel Castro to deliver a series of lectures at the University of Havana on the subject of Rational Grazing. Despite the negative perception of Castro's communist government, Voisin agreed and arrived in Cuba on December 3.
Voisin and his wife were personally greeted by Castro at the airport, and they led an inspection of a nearby farm owned by the Cuban Prime Minister. The series of lectures opened on December 8 at the University of Havana.
Castro praised Voisin's work and stated that "human health, human happiness, is the main objective of Professor Voisin's work." On December 11, Voisin was awarded an honorary doctorate from the university.
However, on December 21 at 3:50 pm, Voisin died suddenly of a heart attack in his hotel. Castro announced his death on national television that evening. A state funeral was held the following day at the Great Hall of the University of Havana.
Voisin had previously expressed a desire that, if he died while giving lectures abroad, he wished for his remains to be buried in the country of his death. Following his wishes, he was buried at Colon Cemetery in Havana.
Voisin became celebrated in Cuba, and the Cuban government declared 1965 "The Year of Agriculture" in his honor. A commemorative stamp with a face value of 3¢ was issued on the first anniversary of his death.
Despite Castro's advocacy for Voisin's work, Cuban farmers largely ignored his methods until the collapse of the Communist Common Market in 1989, which resulted in a three-year economic crisis called the Special Period. The loss of Soviet energy and chemical imports called for a transition to organic and skill-intensive agroecological models based on the principles of Voisinism. This transition was successful, and by 1995, urban agriculture, especially the use of organoponicos, was widespread in Cuba.
Voisin's work gained attention and recognition among English-speaking authors, including Allan Nation, Joel Salatin, and Allan Savory. Savory, who developed Holistic Management, was greatly influenced by Voisin's principles and wrote the introduction for the 1988 reprint of "Grass Productivity."
Despite the impact of his research on the permaculture, holistic management, and grass-fed beef movements, Voisin remains relatively unknown in his home country of France, partly due to his political leanings.
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Image credit: culturaempresarialganadera.org
