“Endemic grape varieties are dying”: local stakeholders write to the Minister of Agriculture to invite her to come to Aude “to discover the reality of the moment”

This is a serious time for Aude viticulture. All the actors agree to say this. Successive climatic hazards, exploding costs, wine consumption at half mast. The horizon is darkening and there are fears of a social earthquake. This is why the president of the Departmental Council, Hélène Sandragné, the senator Sébastien Pla, the senator Gisèle Jourda, the president of the chamber of agriculture Philippe Vergnes, the president of the independent winegrowers of Aude Christophe Gualco, the president independent winegrowers of Occitanie Alexandre They, the president of the independent winegrowers of France Jean-Marie Fabre, the president of the cooperative winegrowers of Occitanie Ludovic Roux and the president of the union of Audois winegrowers Frédéric Rouanet, took up the pen to write to the new Minister of Agriculture Annie Genevard, as they had done with the two previous Prime Ministers.

A letter in the form of a cry of alarm. Hoping this time for a return. And a visit to Aude. “We invite you to our department to discover the current reality, and above all to discuss the prospects for this essential activity for our economy”, they conclude in their missive.

“Minimum access to reasoned irrigation”

Before that, the co-signatories had recalled: “A year ago, well before the winegrowers’ demonstration of November 2023 in Narbonne and the agricultural movement of January 2024, we challenged the Prime Minister, Ms. Elisabeth Borne, to make her aware of the great dismay of a sector on the verge of of the breakup We did the same a few months later with his successor, Mr. Gabriel Attal. The aim of our requests was to make them aware of the very particular difficulties of our Mediterranean sector, and we invited them to come and meet us. our vines, so that they realize the exceptional situation, and unique in France, experienced by the winegrowers of this territory in the grip of a persistent drought. Neither of them responded to us.

And to describe a context where “a stronger drought has set in” and who is “become the norm” […] “endemic grape varieties that are dying”. Not to mention “inflation, decline in consumption and prices”. With an assessment of the 2024 harvest marked by “weak harvests, even in the irrigated areas of the department”. After having drawn up this worrying picture for the future of Aude viticulture, without which the department “loses an essential part of its economy”the co-signatories put forward avenues of reflection such as “minimal access to rational irrigation and the implementation of structural support measures”. A necessity, according to them, otherwise “we will have no hope of carrying out the essential transformations for which the profession is ready”.

In this letter, they also mention the uprooting plan, “social plan of viticulture”. “In view of the situation, we must already expect that the envelope provided for this ‘measure to definitively reduce the wine-growing potential’ will be quickly consumed and will not be able to cover all the requests for And while the possibility of implementing temporary grubbing-up measures is being discussed, proposals from the profession on additional support measures intended for investments for marketing, or for cash flow by spreading the debt. , are on the table. They are in no way exorbitant. They deserve to be heard and discussed.”