“There, there is nothing left“, laments Frédéric Giachino. This winegrower lost several of his plots on Sunday June 5 in the bad weather. While everywhere else the vines are growing and are leafy, the affected plots approach bare trunks, marked by hail.”Looks like it’s winter“, comments Frédéric Giachino.
– Agatha Legrand
The operator does not wish to linger “in this cemetery“. In the space of about fifteen minutes on Sunday, he lost “at least 20%” of his turnover. If there is nothing left in these plots, a few others have had better luck: “It’s hard to judge, you’ll have to wait a few weeks to see if some feet come back. From the moment there are grapes left, it’s not lost“, hopes Frédéric Giachino.
The damaged vine
The winegrower is not the only one in this situation: in the plot next door, it is a wine nurseryman who has lost his plants. “They were 10 to 15 centimeters high. The hail came, in 10 or 15 minutes, everything was destroyed. All the shoots are on the ground, the heads have fallen… We can clearly see on the ground, on the plastics, the impact of hail that there was”explains Florent Riondy.
The stormy episode impressed the two growers. Neither of them had seen this before. “Even after 35 years of career“, assures Frédéric Giachino. Usually the hail is not as extensive. To limit the risk of loss, Florent Riondy had planted on two different plots, 10 kilometers apart as the crow flies: “Both plots have been destroyed, I have nothing left“, says the nurseryman, disappointed.
– Agatha Legrand
Elsewhere in Isère, it is rather the drought that strikes. For Wilfrid Debroize, president of the Isère wine union, global warming should favor these stormy episodes or drought in the department. We must therefore think of solutions. “We realize that the vines are way ahead of a classic year. We have about 15 days in advance.“
Other crops affected
In the commune of Chapareillan, vines are not the only crops. Romain Nantais, a farmer, also lost 40 hectares out of the hundred on his farm. Soybeans, in particular, have been hit hard: “We estimate that we should not be far from 100% losses. For corn, we are still waiting a little to know if they will recover, or if the heart has been touched.“
The watchword is therefore expectation: growers hope to be able to get something out of their harvest. But Frédéric Giachino warns: “We are in a succession of disasters. Farmers today know they have to live with that. But there is a time when it will impact everyone.“