Braziers, candles, water sprinkling, wind turbines: in the fields, all available means have been mobilized since Friday, everyone bearing in mind the heavy losses linked to the frost of spring 2021 - a phenomenon set to recur in the context of climate change.

Monday morning, Météo France announced that the coldest temperatures for the month of April since 1947 had been recorded during the night, with records beaten in particular in Mourmelon (Marne, -9.3 degrees).

"It's very serious, it hit hard last night," Christiane Lambert, president of the majority agricultural union FNSEA, told AFP early in the morning.

Number 2 of the FNSEA, Jérôme Despey anticipates "a morning which will be delicate" on Tuesday even if we expect improvements for the north of France".

Apricots and peaches

"It's really arboriculture that concerns us the most, he explains. For certain stone fruits - peaches, apricots - but also kiwis, we were already at the flowering stage."

The Ministry of Agriculture stresses that it is "still too early to draw a quantified assessment of the consequences of frost", any damage only being visible after a few days.

Apple trees are sprayed with water to protect them from frost on April 4, 2022 in an orchard in Montauban Valentine CHAPUIS AFP

“Arboriculture and in particular stone fruits are the most affected”, especially in the South-West, the Great East and the Loire Valley, it was specified to the ministry, noting that the vine is at a "stage less advanced than last year therefore less sensitive".

In the region of Agen, in the Lot-et-Garonne, after two consecutive nights of frost, "there will be big losses" for the prune plum, but lower than last year "when it was grilled at 100%", explained to AFP Rémy Muller, adviser in arboriculture at the chamber of agriculture of the department.

In the Tarn-et Garonne, Damien Garrigues spent the night supervising the automatic sprinklers in his 60 hectares of apple trees.

With the hope of creating a thin layer of ice to protect its buds from a more drastic drop in temperature.

“For the moment, it is not at the level of last year”, he estimated, when he had lost around 20% of his production in the spring of 2021.

In the vineyards of Éric Chadourne, near Bergerac, it is hoped that the wind turbine, activated Monday in the early morning to stir the air around the plants, will have limited the damage.

Fires lit in the vineyards of Vouvray to protect them from frost, on April 4, 2022 near Vernou-sur-Brenne, in Indre-et-Loire GUILLAUME SOUVANT AFP

But elsewhere, "all the early buds, Merlot, white grape varieties and Malbec, are frozen", noted the winegrower, hoping for less damage than last year, because the late grape varieties are "not yet out".

escape the worst

In the Rhône valley, it is the mistral that seems to have allowed the orchards of the Drôme to escape the worst.

Last year, after an exceptional episode of frost in April, the harvests of apricots, cherries and pears had been cut by half compared to the average of the previous five years, according to the statistical service of the Ministry of Agriculture. .

Wine production had also fallen to a "historically low level": -19% over one year and -14% compared to the average of the last five years.

Apple tree buds caught in the ice after being sprayed with water to protect them from the cold, April 4, 2022 in an orchard in Montauban Valentine CHAPUIS AFP

On Sunday, Prime Minister Jean Castex had mentioned the opening, if necessary, of an "emergency fund" for the most affected departments.

© 2022 AFP