A harvest saved but a territory to be rebuilt

In the south of France, the harvest of Cévennes sweet onions was good, the commercial season was very well underway. But on September 19th, violent thunderstorms erupted over the region with an accumulation of totally unprecedented rain: nearly 710 mm in 6 hours!

 

 

 

The scale of the disaster is such that the toll is still far from final. Now is the time to clear the land and we already know that reconstruction will take a long time. The lines of communication are severely damaged. The whole area of ​​the Cévennes AOP sweet onion was affected.

 

 

 

On the site of the cooperative, the building was spared. The packaging and shipping business was able to get back on its feet quickly with the return of electricity and internet. The activity must, however, adapt to supply difficulties because deliveries from producers are severely slowed down by difficulties with movement and access to farms. Overall, the commercial season will be able to resume its course fairly quickly.

 

 

 

The 2020 harvest was already stored and sheltered, but the terraced plots (the faïsses) suffered greatly. Many dry stone walls did not resist and the topsoil left with the water. Irrigation systems need to be rebuilt. Some producers have lost more than a third of their production areas.

 

 

 

The 52 hectares of sweet onion from the Cévennes harvested this year represent no less than 2000 terraced plots maintained for several generations. In a few hours, many plots were destroyed. The re-cultivation work will take a long time to regain production potential as quickly as possible. Time is running out because the first sowing will start next March and transplanting from May.