It’s going to be sunny and warm all week. Good for morale, of course, but these summer temperatures will not help the dryness of the soil. Restrictions on the use of water have just been taken on the south of Loire-Atlantique and the northern border of Vendée. In details, the alert threshold is triggered in the Breton marshes, in the Grand-Lieu basin and the Logne basin in particular. By these prefectural decrees, farmers are asked to reduce their water withdrawals.
“Professionals choose to limit themselves before a ban”
Better to anticipate, believes the president of the FNSEA of Vendée. According to Brice Guyau, this measure is necessary. He adds that farmers are not waiting for restrictions to be imposed on them to self-regulate, and that is currently the case in the south of Vendée. “We have groundwater monitoring and substitution reserves throughout the department and based on that, professionals choose to limit themselves before a ban from the administrationhe points out. This is what allows us to manage as well as possible, closer to the needs of all farmers but also of the community.”
“It won’t change anything at all”
If Philippe Guillet, of the association of irrigators of Grand-Lieu agrees on the fact that farmers are capable of self-regulation, he does not consider these water restriction measures necessary. “It won’t change anything because at the moment we are being restricted on the use of water even though we haven’t started irrigating yet and the rivers are already at dryhe explains. In our basin, every year, the rivers run dry. The decrees that have been introduced to manage the drought are not consistent with the reality on the ground. We, we call for a real independent study about this question.”
“Our insurance is water”
The Grand-Lieu basin brings together around 400 irrigating farmers in Loire-Atlantique and Vendée. Among them, Gaël Drouet, breeder of dairy cows and farmer on a 130-hectare farm in La Planche, in the Nantes vineyards. His father created an artificial pond a little over 30 years ago. 30,000 cubic meters of water reserve for its operation. “This pond is our insurance in fact. We can operate our insurance all year round with what is happening at the moment, but for us, our insurance is water”he remarks.
Water recovered in winter by draining sandy soils of the farm and which is used to irrigate the corn in the summer, like the one planted ten days ago in the field a few steps from its pond. Except that in a period of restriction, as at the moment, Gaël Drouet does not have the right to use this water during the day, nor on weekends. ” If we are already arrested today, that means that tomorrow we will take others which will be even more restrictive for us. And we won’t be able to water our corn anymore, we’re going to let it die!”
Farmer common sense is not just a bad word, it’s a reality! – Gaël Drouet, farmer
And the breeder wonders how he will be able to feed his dairy cows because the maize he grows serves as fodder. “It’s both a feeling of concern, but it’s also anger! Because peasant common sense is not just a dirty word, it’s also a reality!”he blurts out.
Without quality maize, the farmer will have to buy grains and proteins elsewhere to feed his animals abroad. “Nonsense”according to Gaël Drouet, far from peasant common sense. “When we have 30,000 cubic meters of water, let us use them! Full stop!”