The intense storm which crossed France was a “real disaster” for agriculture, the hail having affected vineyards, cereal crops as well as buildings, the president of the FNSEA.
The government announced on Monday a series of measures, including the staggering of the repayment of loans guaranteed by the State, to relieve the farms affected by the violent episode of hail which crossed France at the end of last week. “We will very quickly activate the devices that we know, such as the reduction of social charges, the tax exemption on the tax on unbuilt land (…) also look at the devices that can be taken in the context of agricultural disasters “, declared the new Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Marc Fesneau after his meeting with winegrowers in a farm affected Thursday in Saint-Quentin-de-Caplong, in the east of Bordeaux. “There is a request that has been made, we are working hard on it, to ensure that the loans guaranteed by the State (PGE) can be extended over time because we are going to have losses in our farms. revenue”, he said, without giving any figures.
In the short term, “we need to have an inventory very quickly to activate the devices (…) We have a very violent event in very many departments but in localized areas. We will do so in case per case”, he continued, ensuring “the mobilization of the State”.
He also returned to the new harvest insurance system, which will apply from January 1, 2023. “It is the doubling of the budget from 300 to 600 million euros, which will allow more than farmers to make sure”. On the prevention side, “we must work on systems that make it possible to lessen the effects of stormy phenomena (in the face of) climate change which produces more regular and more powerful events”, he estimated.
“Triple Trouble”
On this farm quickly visited by the Minister, the tender branches were broken, the leaves and the first bunches chopped and for some blackened.
“The hail lasted five minutes, three of which were dry hail, without water, which shredded everything. It’s very hard psychologically”, laments the owner Nadège Impériale, two thirds of the 120-hectare estate, which she co-manages. with his sister Laurence, are affected, with “between 50% and 100% loss”. “It’s a disaster. Here, we are not in Saint-Émilion, we do not snap our fingers to sell our wine”, underlines another winegrower, Christophe Porcher, who vinifies 35 hectares organically, “including ten entirely ravages”.
Then visiting another farm in the Gers at Castelnau d’Auzan-Labarrère, Marc Fesneau pointed out the “double or even triple penalty” with calamities that cause “a loss of harvest, an average harvest the following year then a loss market because we are not able to supply”. For the president of the Bordeaux Wine Interprofessional Council Bernard Farges, the announcement of the spreading of the PGEs was “urgent”. “What came to save companies cannot be the source of their downfall today. It would lead them to bankruptcy if they had to repay now,” he warned.
The intense storm which crossed France was a “real disaster” for agriculture, the hail having affected vineyards, cereal crops as well as buildings, the president of the FNSEA (majority union) Christiane Lambert. Significant damage was noted across France after the passage of this intense storm, with more than 40 departments affected, ranging from Brittany to Gers and Landes via Indre-et-Loire or Allier.