Benjamin Peter 2:02 pm, January 06, 2022

The French consume a little over seven kilos of exotic fruits per year.

Consumption increasing in recent years.

But these fruits are often expensive and have an unfavorable carbon footprint.

In France, some producers have succeeded in growing these exotic fruits in metropolitan France.

Kiwis, pomegranates and other exotic products often cross oceans and continents to then end up in our fruit baskets.

From now on, it will be possible to harvest in mainland France, where some farmers have succeeded in growing these exotic products and selling the fruit of their labor in a short circuit. 

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A tropical forest in the Pyrénées-Orientales

As with Frédéric Morlot.

In his farm in the Pyrénées-Orientales, at the foot of the Canigou peak, the producer has planted a veritable tropical forest over 2,000 square meters.

A bet launched five years ago.

It produces, in all, more than 50 different species of passion fruit, lemongrass, vanilla, mango or guava.

"It's called the strawberry guava. A marvel in the mouth. It's true that we French people love to put everything in from elsewhere. It proves that it's worth the trouble because we come to have very, very beautiful things, "laments Frédéric Morlot. 

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Fruit sometimes twice cheaper

To succeed in his bet, the producer worked the land and selected old varieties, which allows him to produce in a greenhouse without having to heat them.

"I don't see the point of heating greenhouses to do exotic things, since, anyway, we're going to have to use as much fossil energy as possible to produce the same thing as what we're going to do elsewhere, etc. . The challenge is to produce with the climate of the place. We manage, "he insists.

He is doing so well that the short circuit also allows him to produce fruits that are sometimes half the price of those at the end of the world and much better since they can be picked ripe.

And the formula is attractive, to the point that, to meet demand, it hopes to increase its operations by seven within three years.