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