In a vineyard near Bordeaux, April 10, 2021. -
Ugo Amez
A climatic calamity.
And economical.
Jérôme Despey, winegrower in the Hérault and secretary general of the FNSEA, told AFP on Wednesday that at least a third of French wine production “will be lost” because of the current frost episode.
A shortfall which represents for the sector "about 2 billion euros in turnover", he laments.
“With my colleagues, we toured all the production areas, with the inter-professional organizations, the chambers of agriculture, the cooperative members, the independent winegrowers,” he added.
And this estimate is a consolidation of professional feedback.
"The greatest agronomic disaster" of the century
This is "probably the biggest agronomic disaster of the beginning of the 21st century," the Minister of Agriculture, Julien Denormandie, said on LCP on Monday evening.
According to him, “hundreds of thousands of hectares” of vineyards, orchards and fields have been affected.
Planet
Frost episode: The anti-freeze fires lit in the orchards of the Tarn cause a series of intoxications
Economy
Consumption: With harvests ravaged by frost, the risk of higher prices
Vine
Crisis
Cold
Agriculture
Economy