“To make salt, you need wind, sun, heat and seawater. So all the elements are there for us to continue.” Guérande salt producer Erwan Rivalant is satisfied: the salt workers’ season promises to be exceptional this year.
It must be said that the high temperatures and the drought in recent weeks have allowed the salt producers (producers located north of the Loire) and the salt producers (to the south) to produce a lot of salt since last spring. For the year as a whole, professionals estimate that the harvest will double that of last year. With an amount not seen since the 1970s.
But these successive heat waves and the lack of rainfall have a drawback: they exhaust the producers who usually rest on the summer rainy days. “The difficulty is being tough and being able to continue as long as possible without getting hurt and without our temporary workers getting hurt,” says Erwan Rivalant.
If the salt growers are tired, they are also reassured to know that this year’s production will allow them to protect themselves from possible bad harvests in the future: “We are used to fairly average seasons in recent years. (…) We will store a good part of our production in case the next few years are not terrible”, rejoices Elodie Rio, general manager of the Tradysel company.
Early harvest in the Champagne vineyards
In addition to the salt growers, some viticulturists are part of this minority of agricultural producers who take advantage of periods of drought. In the Champagne vineyards, for example, the harvest could start on Monday, an early date linked to the hot and dry summer.
“We are in the ideal curve, with moderate water stress, and we must not forget that the vine is a Mediterranean plant, water stress is good for it,” said David Chatillon, co-chairman of the Champagne Committee. “We can’t dream of anything better, in quantity and quality,” he said.
Source: BFM TV
