It’s the big day for all the nut farmers who produce DOP walnuts, a designation that worries 259 municipalities spread over northern Drôme, Isère and Savoy. This represents 7000 hectares of walnut trees. But after the severe drought of this summer accompanied by long episodes of heat wave, are the AOP nuts there?
“The drought has left its mark”
In Montmiral, in Christian Nagearaffe’s 40 hectares of walnut trees, drought has left its mark. Some leaves are yellowed or even dried out. The nuts themselves are much smaller in size than those known last year after a rainy summer. But there are enough of them on the trees for the harvest not to be bad, explains the member of the interprofessional committee for walnuts AOP Grenoble. This saved half of the trees it really is soil irrigation.
Consequentially, “At least 70% of the harvest is saved” says the manufacturer. Observation is much more difficult on non-irrigated plots. There, the trees produce next to nothing and may even end up dying within the next 10 years. Plots where yields will be halved this season, for a loss of earnings of at least 20,000 euros per hectare and covers 20 hectares.
“We are counting on rain this week”
On the trees in shape, the nuts are there but almost all of them are still enclosed in the peel. In order for it to open and the crop to really roll out, this green shell would have to tear itself apart. But for this, the fruits must be able to absorb the water but “we are counting on rain this week and it should be fine” hopes Christian Nagearaffe. The harvest lasts an average of three weeks.
– Erwan Chassin
But to be able to say that the season is good, it is necessary to wait to present the products on international markets. Knowing that with these 40,000 tons of nuts harvested on average every year, of which 13 quintals of DOP walnutsFrance is the third largest exporter in the world. She comes behind 160,000 tons from Chile and 700,000 from the United States. But French walnuts generally sell more than others, in particular thanks to the various PDOs that guarantee the high quality of these products.
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