It’s been a long time since the meeting room at the Maison des vignerons de Perpignan was so full. More than fifty winemakers were present on Tuesday evening. Another fifty are expected during the next two meetings organized on Wednesday and tomorrow, Thursday 17 October. The object of the meeting is to detail the different methods of the vine eradication plan for which requests can be submitted starting from the beginning of the afternoon on the dedicated website.
As in any program of this type, there are mistakes to avoid in order not to compromise the payment of the aid, i.e. 4,000 euros per hectare uprooted. Hence the need for an in-depth explanation of the text to clarify that total eradication, i.e. the exit of winemakers from production, is a priority, that uncultivated vineyards are excluded, etc. The State is mobilizing 120 million euros for this national eradication plan which must remove 30,000 hectares and resolve part of the overproduction recorded in recent years in a context of massive deconsumption.
The minister waited in turn
The great unknown, at the moment in which winemakers can submit their request and until the closing date of November 13, is the number of hectares that will be affected in the Pyrenees Orientales, after three years of drought, at the end of a harvest that they lost 2,500 euros per hectare, after almost four years without profits. Professional estimates range from 5,000 to 10,000 hectares, out of a vineyard of around 17,000 in the department.
Thus, when asked who is in favor of definitive eradication, a few hands are raised in the assembly, around 10% of the winemakers present. The others will position themselves on a partial eradication, a sign that they intend to continue. Partial tear to which they will be entitled if the total tear does not devour the entire envelope.
It is in this context that the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Génevard, will come this Thursday, October 17, to visit the department.
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