National union for chestnut producers

Chestnut growers create national union with the goal to fight against a new pest (the gall wasp), which have arrived via Italy from Asia. They now affect all chestnut regions in France. Another goal is  also to promote French chestnuts, defend producers in the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and organise the sector, which has a majority of small farms.

French production is 8,000 to 12,000 tons of chestnuts with 5,000 to 6,000 tons harvested in the department of Ardèche. French production is insufficient to meet the needs of industry. European production reached 104,000 tonnes compared to China's production 1.7 million tons that ranks it as largest producer.

source : 20 minutes, le parisien, fr3