Dijon mustard victim of climate change – Liberation

Wood, metals, plastic, paper, electronic components and now… mustard seed. The essential ingredient for making the famous Dijon mustard is added to the long list of raw material shortages in France. At issue: the historic drought linked to climate change that affected Canada this summer. Because from the American Far North to Burgundy, there is sometimes only one step. Canada produces more than 80% of the mustard seeds used in France. Gold, “For 2021-2022, production fell by 28%, due to lower yields and sown area”, can we read in a report from the Canadian Department of Agriculture published at the end of November. “Therefore, the average price is expected to double from 2020-2021, and rise to a record high of $ 1,700 ([ 510 euros, NDLR] per ton “, adds the ministry.

For French producers – the sector is dominated by Amora Maille which holds two-thirds of the country’s production – the addition is steep. At the Reine de Dijon mustard maker, the plant is idling, production having fallen by 50% in the face of the lack of supply. “There is also the problem of the cost of packaging which is increasing exponentially, with an increase of 40% for the metal caps of the jars, more than 12% for glass, 35% for cardboard…”, recalls Marc Désarménien, director of the Fallot family mustard factory. The increase even amounts to more than 30% for white table wine (100% for white wine from Burgundy), an essential ingredient in mustard, due to the late frost which severely reduced the harvest this year.

In France, frost and insects destroy crops

The surge in prices worries the entire industry and will obviously have an impact on consumers’ wallets. For example, it will take “Between 9 and 16%” increase in 2022 for the jars of the Fallot mustard plant, which is however supplied mainly in Burgundy. The local culture of mustard seeds, which made Dijon famous centuries ago, is also in crisis. Disappeared from the region since World War II due to the globalization of trade and competition from countries with higher yields, production was relaunched on French soil in the 1990s, going as far as covering 25% of needs. until 2016.

“But since that year, we’ve fallen back to around 10%. From 12,000 tonnes in 2016 we have grown to 4,000 tonnes in 2021. It’s simple, we can no longer manage pests ”, regrets Fabrice Genin, producer of mustard seeds and president of the Association of producers of mustard seeds of Burgundy (APGMB). “There is a climatic effect, it’s obvious. As the winters are milder, the environment is more favorable to insects which reproduce more often during the year ”, adds the producer, who regrets the lack of solutions to the ban on plant protection products.

Reducing dependence on the North American giant by massively relocating production to French soil therefore seems today «impossible» for Fabrice Genin. “It will take a few more years for us to adapt, for example by selecting new varieties that are resistant to insects, but we will not find the same yields and, above all, it will be impossible for us to match the prices of Canadians” , explains the producer. In the meantime, everyone is hoping that the next harvest will make it possible to replenish the now non-existent stocks. “We keep our fingers crossed that 2022 is not yet an annus horribilis, as the Queen of England would say”, concludes Marc Désarménien.

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