Climate: the return of frost puts farmers and arborists on their guard

For a few years, at the same period, concern has returned to the agricultural world. In April, the spring sweetness returns to warm up a good part of the country. A welcome return for many French people, but which often comes at the expense of cultures. Indeed, between the months of April and May, cold snaps at dawn increase in certain regions. And announce the gradual transition between the end of winter and the arrival of spring. As in 2022, France is experiencing an episode of morning frosts from Tuesday April 4 to Thursday April 6, Météo-France announced on Monday. A climate that will concern “almost the entire territory, from the north to the central massif, with descents into the Mediterranean hinterland.» «Few regions will be spared.”

In the plain, temperatures could also drop to -6 on Wednesday. A trend that confirms The Weather Channel *, who adds that “morning frosts spread west and south.“If the temperatures become positive again during the day, they will remain below the average for the season. A rapid drop in degrees which should have significant consequences on harvests, while the first flowerings come earlier with global warming. If the country is far from the disaster of April 2021 – the worst episode of frost for 30 years – professionals remain cautious about their vines or their fruit crops. They also put protective measures in place. Among these, anti-freeze towers in the shape of wind turbines that brew air managing to protect three to five hectares. But also irrigation facilities so that crops do not fall below 0. Or even candles burned on plots, as reported Le Figaro two years ago.

“It is catastrophic for all the work that has been done. A plant needs cold hours and wakes up as soon as the heat arrives. There, we are over several years where we have a spring a little earlier than usual, detailed Tuesday Jérôme Volle, vice-president of the FNSEA. We have flowers that arrive earlier, and therefore we are no longer vulnerable to frosts.And this, especially since heat records were broken last week, even exceeding 30 degrees in several cities in the Southwest. “As we have had episodes of mildness which have already started, this could cause damage, in particular concerning fruit crops, such as apricots, plums or peaches where the vegetation has already partly emerged”, specified, for her part, Christelle Robert, forecaster at Météo-France.

Yield loss

A concern that nevertheless tempers Daniel Sauvaître, president of the National Association of Apples and Pears: “It is especially Wednesday morning that it will be the coldest. Those who have means of protection remain on the alert, because there may be damage. But having known terrible years, with really low temperatures, the – 1 or the 0 announced mean that we have no big fears.“If the heavy agricultural losses in 2022 had precisely led the then Prime Minister Jean Castex to release an emergency aid fund of 20 million euros, the arborist Daniel Sauvaître nevertheless considers that the spring of 2023 will not be as bad as two years ago. This is confirmed by the doctor in agro climatology Serge Zaka, who wants to be reassuring in an interview with Good public : “We are not afraid of losses as large as in 2021 and 2022, but we are on “small” daily losses which are likely to accumulate.

In Loir-et-Cher, winemaker Cyril Desloges, who hopes “a decent harvest this year”, also relativizes: “The frost still arrives early in the season. The buds, which have not all come out or not very much, still resist. But losses are possible. While he experienced a price increase in his sales after the 2021 episode, Cyril Desloges affirms that with a “fairly buoyant market“, prices should “stay correct” despite the “lack of volume“. And to add that the risk of frost weighs well on the whole month of April, with a possible surge in prices in the event of a sharp drop in temperatures. “We’re going to cross our fingers, but morally, it’s difficult, especially when it’s recurrent“, he laments. If the Mediterranean coast, Corsica, and the Rhone Valley should be spared from the phenomenon, the specialist Serge Zaka assesses that a drop in «2.5°C“temperatures would result in”yield loss of about 10 to 15%.

The Weather Channel is a property of the Figaro group*.