a Picard market gardener in the face of drought

For a month, the land of François Delporte, organic market gardener, has been waiting for the rain. “It is very dry, we can see that it lacks water”, he confides. So that the situation does not turn into a disaster, he must irrigate as accurately as possible. Fennel, which does not tolerate water stress well, requires two waterings of two hours per week. Other plants, on the other hand, can wait. “We must focus our thinking on this much more than in the years before”explains François Delporte.

Organic farming is already in a complicated situation, with sales falling by 11% in 2021. The market gardener has managed to maintain its prices to keep its customers, but the specter of drought could change everything. “It costs us more in electricity because we have to run pumps (…), and we also have working time allocated to irrigation at the moment”, he explains. If the situation were to last, he would be forced to raise his prices.