France: Severe Drought Forces Northern Farmers To Turn To Irrigation

ETVBHARAT

Northern France faces extreme drought, delaying endive sowing. Farmers struggle without irrigation as soil moisture drops to record lows.

Transcript

00:00In northern France, farmers are facing one of the worst droughts in decades.

00:12In dive growers, Sebastian says there is no point in sowing, nothing will sprout.

00:18His land has seen eight times less rainfall than last spring.

00:23If you have some seeds in the endive, nothing will move.

00:28It's like if they were in their bag.

00:33So, we wait.

00:36We are tributaries of nature, we know, but we are suffering from the consequences.

00:42When you are not equipped with irrigation, it's what happens.

00:46You wait.

00:47It causes you to stress.

00:53Normally, in dive is sown from mid-April to early June.

00:58But this year, Sebastian has only managed to sow a third of his land, only on irrigated plots

01:06far from his home farm.

01:08Without irrigation, the dry soil offers no chance of germination.

01:13The semis d'endive is done from April 15 to July 1.

01:17So, there is a big, big time to sow.

01:19We are even in retard.

01:20I don't want to worry about it.

01:21And the biggest fear that I have, it's for my personal.

01:24Because, behind, we have to work for 15 people for eight months of the year on the exploitation.

01:30And if they are raised, they do not quickly and homogenely,

01:35they may be missing roots for the exploitation.

01:40And therefore, I work for my personal.

01:42This drought is part of a wider crisis affecting much of Northern Europe, from Scotland to the Baltic States.

01:51It is caused by a persistent high-pressure system.

01:55In Belgium, it is the driest period since 1893.

02:00According to the French Weather Office, in three months, the North received only as much rain as it usually does in one month.

02:09The surface soil moisture levels now resemble late July, months ahead of time.

02:15It has more in three months than what we expect in one month.

02:20So, we have two-thirds of the deficit compared to the normal season.

02:24So, we are in the middle of the country.

02:25We have two-thirds of the regions of the 60-year-old region.

02:28We have two-thirds of the countries.

02:29It affects the north of France.

02:31It affects the Bénénuque, the Germany, and the country.

02:33It affects the Baltic Sea.

02:34country of the Baltic Sea. So we have a situation in terms of precipitation

02:39extremely favorable, according to the regard of the agricultural activity.

02:45Materologists warn that soil moisture is becoming one of the first casualties of

02:49climate change. With warmer air and ground, more water evaporates, reducing

02:55reserves essential for agriculture.

02:58L'humidité des sols, elle, ça va être la première victime du réchauffement climatique parce

03:04que le sol et l'air étant plus chaud, le pouvoir évaporant de l'air va être plus élevé

03:10et donc l'eau que le sol va recevoir, à partir du printemps et jusqu'à l'automne, va

03:17s'évaporer de manière beaucoup plus rapide et donc de manière plus massive vers l'atmosphère.

03:22Et donc, on sait que les couches de réserves utiles pour l'activité agricole vont être

03:31malmenées, beaucoup moins de ressources en eau.

03:33In Karnin, farmer Adrin is preparing to plant leeks. He is hoping for rain, but says he

03:40may need to irrigate just to make the soil workable. Since 2020, Adrin and his partners

03:47have spent up to 50,000 euros a year on pumps, boreholes and irrigation systems.

03:53Donc ça, ce sera une parcelle de poireaux, donc on a planté ça plutôt au mois de juin,

03:58juin-juillet. On croise un peu les doigts pour qu'il pleuve d'ici là, pour pouvoir travailler

04:05la terre correctement, mais sinon on sera obligé d'arroser le sol pour pouvoir travailler

04:12le sol. Depuis 2020, on met à peu près entre 40 et 50 000 euros sur la table tous les

04:17ans sur notre réseau d'irrigation, que ce soit en termes de pompe, de forage, d'enrouleurs,

04:23de conduite enterrée et tout ça, pour pouvoir assurer le coût en fonction de nos surfaces

04:29de légumes.

04:31Without water, farmers face stress, uncertainty and the fear of losing crops and jobs. The

04:38once unlikely idea of irrigation in northern France is now becoming essential.

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