Very high temperatures ten days in a row, most of the time above 30°C. And that’s just the beginning. Météo France announces that the heat peak is expected for Monday, with “extreme temperatures“Higher than 40 degrees on the Atlantic coast. Emmanuel Bodet, a farmer in the south of Vendée, had never seen this. His corn production looks very bad: “Some corn can’t stand temperatures of 39 degrees”explains the grower.
Like him, a large part of France is facing drought. To respond to the concerns of producers, the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, is organising, on Friday July 15, a National Agricultural Drought Committee.
>> What are the expected temperatures in France until Tuesday?
“Pollen, there is none. It dries. If we don’t have pollen, there will be no cross-fertilization, so there will be no grains on future ears of corn”, worries Emmanuel Bodet. He also grows tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplants in greenhouses. “They suffer a lot from the heat. The plants can’t do it anymore!” Its vegetable production is down 60%.
Vienne is also facing this heat wave. Poitevin farmers must reduce the irrigation of their crops by 70%. Again, corn is suffering. “When we cut off irrigation in full production of an irrigated crop, the cleaver effect is all the greater”explains Sébastien Berger, president of the FDSEA (Departmental Federation of Farmers’ Unions) of Vienne.
When the water is cut off, the shift is so significant that it has a devastating effect on the vegetation.
Sébastien Berger, President of the FDSEA of Viennefranceinfo
Sébastien Berger expects “big impacts in the days to come” on crops. In Vienne, hay is also affected by the drought, with yields halved.
️#Drought | The #Vienna86 still on high alert
Water is a scarce resource, so let’s save it.
Individuals, communities, professionals, farmers, all mobilized to preserve water resourcescurrent restrictions: https://t.co/KKltOZiiWT pic.twitter.com/tClohHrbiK
— Prefect of Vienna (@Prefet86) July 7, 2022