Drought, heat wave, the year of all climatic records hit French farmers hard.
With our special correspondent in La Roche-sur-Yon, Matthew Bonhoure
Many French peasants gathered in Saint-Georges-de-Pointindoux for the agriculture festival of Vendee; more than 50,000 people attend. A moment of reunion with a bitter taste in this difficult time for the agricultural community. The harvests are poor, and the climatic conditions directly threaten the next sowing which must take place at this time. These farmers say they are in great difficulty.
“ I calculate every day »
With his 550 cattle, Yvonnick has a fine operation. But this 59-year-old farmer has never been more worried than this year. Every euro makes the difference: I calculate every day and I can’t project myself “. Usually it makes its own fodder, the main feed for cattle. This year, he took his savings to buy: “ Cheap food that will not feed animals to make meat or milk, but at least animals like heifers or small animals that can suffer from winter, we have to try to fill the belly like that, because we have reached that stage “.
A winter that already promises to be long for breeders, but also for farmers like Bertrand who farms 140 hectares of cereals: “ The concern is that it starts again next year. And there, the concern is that today we should sow the rapeseed areas for the next harvest, and today we don’t sow because our land is too dry. And we don’t want to take the risk of sowing. So it already has an impact on the next harvest, on the future harvest “.
Multi-year commitments
Even though prices have skyrocketed with the war in Ukraine and inflation, farmers are simply not benefiting. Their sales are commitments over several years: “ A contract is signed. And when it’s signed, it’s signed “. A frustrating situation, but also difficult because the expenses of its operators have increased, they have even sometimes been multiplied by two.
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