"It's candy that we throw on the ground".

By more than 30 degrees, Laurent Dirat, strawberry producer in Tarn-et-Garonne, contemplates, disappointed, the fruits spread on the ground, made unsaleable by the strong heat of the last weeks.

During the month of May, he had to throw away half of the harvest.

And the prices are falling.

“We can't keep up, we're overwhelmed!

I've been making strawberries for 12 years, I've never seen that, ”assures Laurent Dirat facing his 100,000 strawberries spread over five hectares.

“A heat wave is the worst, it may be better for it to rain”, laments Jean-Pascal Mourgues, manager of the Mourgues Fruits cooperative which ships the strawberries harvested in the fields of Laurent Dirat, in Gramont. .

“Cyclical crisis”

Usually, the pickers pass once a week in each row.

To keep up with the pace of maturation, they should spend every other day there.

Xavier Mas, president of the Association of National Strawberry Producer Organizations, does not hesitate to speak of a "cyclical crisis" after nearly two weeks of high temperatures whose repercussions on prices are weakening the sector.

“Prices are 20% lower than the average for the last five years at the same time,” he points out.

Fruit quality affected by temperature

An exploding supply and rigid criteria, in order to be able to sell the maximum, which force producers to discard a good part of the harvest.

Temperatures "reduce the size of the fruit, degrade its behavior and have an impact on quality", describes Xavier Mas.

To fight and slow down ripening, growers water more than usual.

"We put water, otherwise the feet slam", image Mr. Mourgues, whose cooperative has been based in Moissac since 1948.

"The requirement is to have a very solid product for the supermarkets, they need a very low degree of maturity, at the risk of having a tasteless strawberry, but the supermarkets will not have any loss", develops Laurent Dirat.

“And for that, he regrets, the condition is to throw strawberries as we do”.

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