Winegrowers across south-west France are preparing to demonstrate on Saturday amid mounting anger over climate shocks, collapsing incomes and stalled political support.
Thousands of winegrowers in southern France's Occitanie region are set to march in the city of Béziers to highlight the plight of the wine industry in the face of climate change.
"It's seen as a last-ditch protest. We're not far from despair," said Jean-Pascal Pelagatti, a winegrower near Béziers and a local secretary-general of the FDSEA farmers union, who added he was hoping for turnout of between 5,000 and 6,000 growers.
Fabien Mariscal, who cultivates 45 hectares of vines in the Aude region, said he would be among them.
"On 15 August, temperatures rose to 45 or 46 degrees Celsius, accompanied by a hot north wind. Everything was burned, the grapes dried up and remained glued to the vines during the harvest. I lost 50 percent of my production on this plot," he told French news agency AFP.
The winegrower, who took over his vines from his father, says he has seen costs skyrocket while price of wine stagnates. "We lose money as soon as we get up in the morning, without even going to work," Mariscal said.
Heatwaves prompt early harvest across France's vineyards
Record fires decimate vineyards
In August, a few kilometres from his village of Douzens, a fire swept through 17,000 hectares, affecting some 200 farms, mainly vineyards. According to the government's forest fire database, it was the worst fire in at least 50 years in the French Mediterranean region.
"Occitanie, France's leading wine-growing region with 257,000 hectares, is bearing the brunt of climate change: repeated droughts and water shortages are causing yields to fall by 30 to 40 percent. Our winegrowers have some of the lowest incomes in the country," said Denis Carretier, president of the Occitanie Regional Chamber of Agriculture.
This year, he warned, is shaping up to be the smallest wine harvest since a severe frost wiped out grapes in 2021.
"Without water, there is no agriculture, and without agriculture, the whole region collapses," Carretier said.
French wildfire 'under control', but wine region faces long road to recovery
Lack of political will
Several unions and other organisations representing farmers have put forward some 20 joint demands ahead of Saturday's march, including resisting "abusively low wine prices", cutting red tape, ensuring access to water and the reform of a law prohibiting wine advertising.
The location of the protest is symbolic, as Béziers was where the great wine revolt of 1907 began – one of the largest social movements of the 20th century in France, which began when southern growers protested against competition from cheap imports and adulterated wines.
Farmers' protests in France: a long and sometimes deadly history
"There is growing anger. We are feeling the same unrest as in 1907, in that winegrowers are no longer able to make ends meet," said Fabien Castelbou, a winegrower and vice-president of a cooperative near Montpellier.
Some union leaders are hoping that a major wine fair coming up in Montpellier at the end of the month will see officials announce a new policies for the industry – though political decisions have been stalled amid the leadership crisis that has already toppled three governments in one year.
"We don't feel there is any political will to promote wine, respond to Trump's attacks, help us return to the Chinese market, or establish an ecosystem that is favourable to the economy and people," said Ludovic Roux, president of the Aude chamber of agriculture, pointing to a proposal to stop selling wine at the national parliament's bar as a symbol of government disinterest.
(with AFP)
