• Girondin winegrowers are embarking on the cultivation of olive trees in an attempt to cope with the crisis of chronic overproduction.

  • We lack hindsight and we will have to wait a few years to find out if olive oil has a fruitful future in Gironde.

  • Other ways of diversifying agricultural activities are also being explored by the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture.

Two hectares of young olive trees rub shoulders with the rows of vines on the property of Fabien and Elise Bougès, Le Petit Ribier, a 34-hectare farm in Les Esseintes, a town located about 50 minutes from Bordeaux.

"In 2008, I took over the family farm and we went organic," explains Fabien Bougès, 39.

In 2019, we diversified our activity because we were beginning to feel the beginnings of the wine crisis.

The fact of being in bio, allows us not to feel the effects yet, but it will happen, because there have been a lot of conversions.

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The wine crisis linked to chronic overproduction is affecting many “small” winegrowers, in particular those who sell in bulk.

“In Bordeaux, we produce around 5.5 million hectoliters and we know how to sell barely four, we have a big problem, believes Fabien Bougès.

We have no choice, we have to reinvent our agriculture.

This Tuesday, he is taking part alongside 80 other winegrowers in an information day organized by the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture on the cultivation of olive trees, which has invited France Olive, the interprofession of olive growers.

“We have everything to learn”

In the South, it is not uncommon for olive growers to have a few hectares of vines to supplement their activity, underlined France Olive during her intervention, suggesting to winegrowers that the two cultures go well together.

However, it is not nothing to get into the cultivation of olive trees and the production of olive oil.

“It's a big technical challenge and there we wipe the plaster, testifies Fabien Bougès.

We do not know at all if it will be possible, not only to grow them, but that they produce”.

He chose to test 14 varieties (there are a hundred in France) on two hectares and will plant three more this year.

“On a professional scale, we have no idea what this culture can give, underlines Thomas Solans, winegrower and in charge of diversifications at the Chamber of Agriculture.

Projects are just getting started in Langon, Aillas and in the Médoc.

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If Fabien Bougès had no losses, while the first winter was very cold (-7 degrees) and the summer of 2022 historically dry, the technician from France Olive who examined his plants told him that they should have double in volume and size.

"It's my fault, we didn't apply enough fertilizer or irrigation, we have everything to learn," admits the neo-olive grower.

He continues to think that this crop, well adapted to climate change and with very little competition locally, may have a future in Gironde soil.

The interprofession warned them: if we want to have regular production and at a sufficient level for it to be profitable, we must have the capacity to irrigate.

And at the same time, humidity can also be a problem, especially for the preservation of olives which, once picked, turn black very quickly.

“Aiming for a qualitative market”

Fabien Bougès will acquire a second-hand mill, located a reasonable distance from his farm, which will be in service next winter with a crushing capacity (extraction of oil from the olives) of 100 kg per hour.

“We hope to do as much direct selling as possible for our organic olives and also market them to delicatessens,” concludes Fabien Bougès.



"We produce 4% of olive oil consumption in France, so it's very little," comments Thomas Solans.

It is a rather high-end olive oil: we are talking about 25 to 30 euros per liter for French olive oil, in traditional orchards with French species.

We must aim for a qualitative market.

There is no question of going to compete with Spanish olive oil, whose sector is industrialized and monopolizes entry-level products.

The question of shared mills between winegrowers will quickly arise if the beginning of the sector is structured because there is no question of transporting these very perishable fruits to the other end of France.

Other avenues of diversification

The Chamber of Agriculture is working on other avenues of diversification such as livestock farming, market gardening, the cultivation of hops, hemp, kiwi, walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts.

“It is complicated for a farmer to make investments when things are going badly, points out Thomas Solans.

And going from winegrower to breeder is a change of profession, a bit like asking a baker to become a butcher, the vine and the olive tree are closer cultures.

It is, however, important for him to "keep his feet on the ground", because an olive tree takes between three and five years to produce, so there will be no short-term effect on the wine crisis.

The challenge for the Chamber of Agriculture is to prevent agricultural land from ending up fallow, with the key to possible changes of destination.

"We want to maintain agricultural activity in the rural fabric," pleads Thomas Solans.

In this sense, the award-winning uprooting of the vines, requested in particular by the Bordeaux wine interprofession, could give a little oxygen to winegrowers in crisis to allow them to remain farmers or give up their land.

Planet

Gironde: A vineyard-forest has flourished in the middle of Bordeaux monoculture

Bordeaux

Bordeaux: "I hope to uproot 10% of my vines to get out of debt", says a winegrower

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