RGo back in time. Two years to be precise. Remember, the news was not about the hesitations of a president looking for a prime minister, but about the disappearance of a simple condiment. The media were hyping up the mustard shortage, illustrated by sparse supermarket shelves.
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Nothing like that this year. The stores are stocked and the veil of indifference has fallen on this bottled product. However, in the fields of Burgundy, farmers have worked this summer to harvest the precious spicy seed. With success. “The target for 2024 was a production of 12,000 tonnes and it should be achieved”says Luc Vandermaesen, resident of the Association of Mustard Seed Producers of Burgundy. A result to compare with the 6,000 tonnes collected in 2022.
This doubling of volumes is the result of a deliberate desire to relocate cultivation. Mustard is getting its revenge. When pots of the yellow condiment began to become scarce, the French discovered that the cultivation of the seed had been scattered over time in France. And that Dijon mustard depended essentially on Canadian supplies. However, in 2021, the cultivation of mustard fields across the Atlantic had turned sour, reduced by half by unfavorable weather.
Unpredictable weather
To limit this dependence, a source of fragility for manufacturers and distributors, French cereal growers have been encouraged to replant. But you don’t attract mustard growers with vinegar, but rather with well-oiled margins. The price of the Burgundy seed, which was 900 euros per tonne in 2021, was propelled to 2,000 euros in 2023. Unsurprisingly, the area devoted to this crop immediately went up in seed, increasing from 4,000 to more than 10,000 hectares. Alas, in 2023, the weather was capricious and the harvest was meager at 9,200 tonnes, far from the objectives set at 15,000 tonnes.
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However, cereal growers have more or less continued the trial in 2024, even if the price of the seed has nosedived a little, to 1,600 euros per tonne. As with all crops this year, farmers have gone through periods of great concern during the campaign, with incessant rain and the lack of light weighing on the state of the brassicas. But a fortnight of sunshine in May fortunately colored the fields yellow and saved the harvest.
“This year, 35% of our products are made with French seeds and we want to increase this to 50% in 2025”says Mr. Vandermaesen, also CEO of the Reine de Dijon company. It remains to be seen whether the consumer is ready to pay for “grown in France”, knowing that between shortages and inflation the price of the condiment has jumped. “The household mustard budget has increased from 4 to 7.30 euros per year”relativizes Mr. Vandermaesen. An increase not bad for cockchafers.
