Several thousand grape growers are expected to be in Béziers this Saturday to attend a demonstration called by several professional organizations including FDSEA, Young Farmers and Rural Coordination. These organizations have about twenty general demands, such as “the fight against extremely low wine prices carried out by mass merchants and retailers”, there “simplification” administrative constraints, access to water or even the relaxation of laws prohibiting wine advertising. Occitanie, which is the largest national vineyard in terms of surface area, was also affected by devastating fires that destroyed 17,000 hectares of land in August. He “suffering from climate change is particularly severe: repeated droughts and water deficits are causing crop yields to fall by 30% to 40%.Our grape growers are among the lowest income earners in the country. underlines the president of the Occitanie Regional Chamber of Agriculture, Denis Carretier.
On a global scale, production this year increased slightly (+3%) compared to 2024. However, in France, the mobilization occurred due to two consecutive years of declining harvests, which were directly affected by global warming. With an estimated 36.2 million hectoliters by the end of the season, France expects a decline of 16% compared to the average of the last five years, according to the latest estimates from the Public Statistics for Agriculture, Food, Forestry and Fisheries (Agreste), published in early November. Similar to 2024, this level is close to the records of 2017 and 2021, and is mainly due to a heat wave and drought in August which, in many wine regions in the region, accelerated the ripening of grapes while inhibiting their growth.
In Languedoc-Roussillon, we estimate a decline in production of 18% compared to the 2020-2024 average, which can also be caused by the loss of around 10,000 hectares of vines over the past year. In addition to the climate context, the economic and commercial context is also worrying: “Energy, diesel, inputs, all this is exploding and wine prices are stagnant. As soon as we wake up in the morning, we lose money, without even working. explained to AFP Fabien Mariscal, 38, who grows 45 hectares of vines in Corbières (Aude). “We don’t feel the political will to highlight wine, to respond to Trump’s attacks, to help us get back into the Chinese market, to build an ecosystem that benefits the economy and society,” regrets Ludovic Roux, president of the Aude Chamber of Agriculture.
