“Very significant damage” has been observed, indicated the Minister of Agriculture, who could soon trigger the agricultural calamity device.
Once again, farmers can only bitterly note the effects of the unleashed elements on their fields, after the passage of the violent storms on Saturday. The president of the FNSEA Christiane Lambert describes this event as “real disaster» for agriculture, the hail having affected vineyards, cereal crops and buildings.
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«Winegrowers have a totally chopped vine“, while the bad weather affected”also wheat, barley», and we also count «damage to buildings, completely pierced roofs“, lamented the head of the main French agricultural union. The damage was observed almost everywhere in France, with “more than 65 departments affected“, she recalled. The damage goes from Brittany to Gers and Landes via Indre-et-Loire or even Allier, she noted.
In the Landes and Gers, hailstones of several centimeters fell on part of the Armagnac vineyard, said winegrowers and local officials. “This corridor of hail followed the entire Lando-Gersoise border and it is estimated that between 4 and 5,000 hectares of vines were affected and several tens of thousands of hectares of crops were affected in the Gers.“, said the president of the Departmental Chamber of Agriculture, Bernard Malabirade.
Vineyards “chopped»
In Frêche (Landes), winemaker Nelly Lacave has regained her 8.5 hectares of vines “chopped». «In the vineyards, there is nothing left, the roof of our agricultural building is a giant Swiss cheese and in the house, windows have broken. My father who is almost 70 years old has never seen this“, she told AFP. Not far from there, in Labastide-d’Armagnac (Landes), Mayor Alain Gaube thinks he has “lost between 70 and 90% of the vines».
For farmers, the scourge of hail adds to other difficulties encountered in recent weeks, after a month of May classified as the hottest and driest ever recorded in France. “ We will need support, we hope for a quick response from the government, including the triggering of the agricultural calamity system. says Christiane Lambert. This system aims to provide compensation financed by the National Agricultural Risk Management Fund to farms that have suffered a loss of harvest or a loss of funds due to climate and that meet certain eligibility conditions. The use of this fund was activated in April 2021 during the period of great frost.
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On the government side, the message conveyed by the president of the FNSEA seems to have been heard. A first estimate of the damage is in progress and should see the light of day within two days. “ Once the diagnosis has been established, the agricultural calamity device will be activated as well as charge exemption devices “, said the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, on RTL, confirming that the damage is “ quite massive in the affected places. More than forty departments are affected ».