2023-08-16 07:13:50
“We should have had rain in the spring and heat now,” regrets Thibault Dupont. Co-founder, with his partner Elsa Jirou, of the Gobettes farm in Saint-Sylvestre-de-Cormeilles in Eure, the market gardener carefully monitors the state of his crops. After a period when the plants lacked water, it is now mildew and other diseases linked to excessive humidity that threaten his vegetables.
“We are in a really terrible year. With the heat in the spring, we had to water a lot,” explains Thibault. In their organic farming operation, the soil is covered to slow down evaporation and an irrigation system has been set up using rainwater collected in large ponds on the property, which limits the effects of drought.
Then, at the end of July, the weather turned gray. “We found ourselves at the beginning of August harvesting beans in boots and raincoats, taking packets of fleet in the face as if we were on the open sea. For our morale, it’s not easy and for customers either: we don’t want to cook summer vegetables with such weather, it shows in the markets. »
“In our strawberries, everything is rotten”
In the squash field, Charlotte Piquet, the couple’s partner, is looking for the few vegetables that have already formed among the stunted plants. She points to a tiny, blackened squash. “We can clearly see that the plants are disturbed by the weather. We are in mid-August and we still find a lot of flowers when we should already have squash instead,” she laments. “The squashes are sick, our yields will be halved,” says Thibault, who also had to prune the tomato plants heavily to prevent the spread of mildew and is preparing to do the same with all his strawberry plants. “Everything is rotten, with a clean cut we can hope to have strawberries in September, when they re-grow. »
“It has rained a lot in recent weeks but I’m not sure that’s enough to replenish the water reserves”, analyzes the farmer. On June 14, thehe prefecture of Eure had placed the department on drought alert over a large part of the territory, and on heightened alert downstream of the Eure river. On August 8, despite very humid weather, the prefect of Eure now these alertss and added the basins of the Andelle and the Epte, until then only in a state of “vigilance”.
However, Thibault moderates: “The weather still favors winter planting. Often, fennel, cabbage, it’s complicated at this time because of the heat. This year it’s nickel. But to choose, I would prefer to have some difficulties with cabbages and tomatoes in excess to offer to our customers. There, there will probably be no waste. »
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