“We won’t last long…”: the endless struggle of a market gardener against drought

In the greenhouse where he grows his tomatoes, Olivier Grégoire sees the damage. “Because of the heat wave, our first harvest was early, but since then the high temperatures and the drought have prevented the fertilization of the flowers. We don’t have much left to sell…”, says this market gardener from Varennes-sur-Loire (Maine-et-Loire), on the right bank of the river, east of Saumur. Scorched by the sun, barely relieved by the weekend showers, the 10 hectares of fruit and vegetables from the Champs-des-Îles farm, worked in the open ground according to conventional methods, are suffering. And their owner too.