Potatoes in crisis. While the authorities have been warning about the abnormally low level of groundwater for several weeks now, leaving the specter of an ugly summer drought dangling, the farmers of Hauts-de-France are doing the sun dance. Because of the water, they got their money’s worth. The rains of the past few weeks have left soggy fields behind, preventing potato plantings or drowning beets.
Between the months of March and April, in Hauts-de-France, you could almost count on the fingers of one hand the days during which it did not rain. Admittedly, it takes a toll on morale, it makes the bistro owners complain, but you still have to rejoice, because water is life. Except that, for farmers, the rain is a bit like alcohol, we appreciate it better in moderation: “the weather has been rotten since the beginning of March, it has been raining all the time, which has prevented us from planting the beets in time,” laments Vincent Guyot, a farmer in northern Aisne. And if he ended up, a month late, by planting all of his hectares of beets, others were not so lucky with other crops.
“I hope to be able to get started soon”
On his farm in Verlinghem, in the North, David Meurillon is chomping at the bit: “For potatoes, we should have started planting a long time ago. Today, the work should be almost finished although I have only planted 25% of my plots. ” It’s not better for Frédéric Colpaert and his small farm in Viesly, near Cambrai: “Since April 10, I’ve been waiting to be able to plant my potatoes. When it doesn’t rain, the land is too waterlogged to work anyway, so I hope to be able to get started soon. »
Not all growers are in the same boat, the weather being more capricious in certain parts of the territory. “It is in the North and in Flanders that they are the furthest behind, I am doing quite well, I have already planted two-thirds of my potatoes”, recognizes Louis-Paul Lhotellerie , at the head, with his two sons, of more than 90 hectares of potato fields near Valenciennes. With the lull announced by Météo-France for the next few days, the Valenciennes and their counterparts in the region hope to resume, or even complete, the plantations. The soil still needs to be sufficiently “drained” as they say: “For the potato, we work the soil to a depth of 15 cm. If it’s too dry or too soaked in water, that makes the task much more difficult,” explains Vincent Guyot.
Towards a shortage of potatoes?
In general, and even if the farmers manage to complete their plantations, the concern remains. “We had a big storm with hail last Saturday, it ravaged the rapeseed fields and damaged the young shoots of beets, noted Vincent Guyot. That and late planting will impact crop yields,” he adds. “Beets, you can make up for it and it’s never lost with potatoes”, procrastinates Louis-Paul Lhotellerie, while also expressing his doubts about the yield of the plots. In fact, everything will depend on the weather this summer and the weather at harvest time: “you will say that the farmers are never happy, but we are like you, we don’t like excesses” , insists Vincent Guyot.
While everyone agrees that yields will suffer, no one knows to what extent. An unknown which makes the fear of a shortage of potatoes premature, at least for the fried industrialists. For individuals, it may be more tense. “Many growers have signed contracts with large agri-food companies and no longer make expenses, that is to say potatoes in bags, advances Louis-Paul Lhotellerie. If we combine this with last year’s drop in production and this year’s delay, we can expect a shortage of fresh potatoes and prices that remain very high. »