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☆ ‘Ping pong-sized’ hailstones ravage famous French wine region
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-02 | by ( Julen Chavin | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A violent hailstorm wreaked havoc on vineyards in Chablis in the famous French wine region of Burgundy Wednesday evening, delivering another weather blow to already hard-hit local Chardonnay winemakers. The extent of the damage was still unclear as winegrowers checked over their plots on Thursday, a representative for the Burgundy wine association told CNN. “We’ve never seen anything like this, it’s dramatic,” Julie Fèvre, a winemaker, told BFM. Some 38 million bottles of Chablis Chardonnay wine are sold every year, generating an estimated $340 million turnover, according to the Burgundy wine association. Around 67% of Chablis wine is exported to foreign markets, the association said.

Persons: “ We’ve, Julie Fèvre, BFM, ” Paul, Étienne, we’ve, Vincent Laroche, Marc Fesneau, ”, Chablis, ” Louis Poitout, we’ll, CNN’s Laura Paddison Organizations: CNN, Chablis, BFMTV, International Organisation of Vine Locations: Chablis, Burgundy, France, “

PARIS (AP) — French farmers staged protests Wednesday across the country and in Brussels against low wages and what they consider to be excessive regulation, mounting costs and other problems. Roadblocks were spreading in many French regions, one day after a farmer and her daughter died due to a traffic collision at a protest barricade. Farmers have also been turning road signs upside down to protest what they argue are nonsensical agricultural policies. Arnaud Rousseau, head of France's major farmers union FNSEA, said his organization would release a list of 40 necessary measures later on Wednesday. Speaking on France 2 television, he said the protest movement was aimed at “getting quick results."

Persons: Gabriel Attal, Attal, Marc Fesneau, Arnaud Rousseau Organizations: PARIS, EU, Rural, Police Locations: Brussels, France, Pamiers, Ariège

☆ France's Farmer Lobby Turns up Heat on Government Before Talks
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Jan. | At A.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +3 min

Farmers cite a government tax on tractor fuel, cheap imports, water storage issues, price pressures from retailers and red tape among their grievances. France's largest farm union FNSEA has said it is considering nationwide protests in the coming weeks. Farming policy has always been a sensitive issue in France, the European Union's biggest agricultural producer, with thousands of independent producers of wine, meat and dairy. President Emmanuel Macron is wary of farmers' growing support for the far-right ahead of the European Parliament elections in June. Fearing a spillover from farmer protests in Germany, Poland and Romania, the government has withdrawn a draft farming law planned for debate this week and invited farming representatives for talks, starting on Monday afternoon.

Persons: Nicolas Delame PARIS, Arnaud Gaillot, I'd, FNSEA, Arnaud Rousseau, Emmanuel Macron, Gaillot, Rousseau, Gabriel Attal, Marc Fesneau, Fesneau, Nicolas Delam, Diana Mandia, Tassilo Hummel, Ros Russell Organizations: Young Farmers, France, Farmers, France Inter, Farming, Midi Libre Locations: Europe, France, Germany, Poland, Romania

☆ France kicks off bird flu vaccination despite trade backlash risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-02 | by ( Sybille De La Hamaide | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

More and more governments have been looking at vaccination as a way to contain the highly contagious bird flu. However, trade barriers such vaccination can prompt have made large poultry exporters reluctant to inoculate their birds. The United States triggered restrictions on imports of French poultry beginning Oct. 1, citing a risk of introducing the virus into the country. Despite intensive talks, Japan was also still reluctant to accept French poultry after vaccination, Fesneau said. Bird flu vaccination in France is initially limited to ducks, which are the most vulnerable to the virus and accounted for only 8% of total French poultry production in 2022.

Persons: Marc Fesneau, Fesneau, CIFOG, Sybille de La, Emelia Sithole Organizations: U.S . Department of Agriculture, Thomson Locations: France, United States, Landes, Japan

☆ Spain sees Ukraine grain ban by some EU states as illegal, France sees solidarity risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Julia Payne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBRUSSELS, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Spain's agriculture minister said on Monday a unilateral ban by any European Union member state on Ukrainian grain imports seemed illegal, while France said European solidarity was at stake. Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports on Friday after the European Commission decided not to extend its ban on imports into Ukraine's five EU eastern European member states. Romania has become the conduit for more than 60% of Ukrainian grain moved by land and its prime minister said on Monday it may also extend the ban if import requests rise. France's agriculture minister Marc Fesneau criticised the moves, saying they called into question European solidarity. "For solidarity there needs to be unity... We must keep hold of the two elements, otherwise the European project is at risk.

Persons: Viacheslav, Spain's Luis Planas Puchades, Marc Fesneau, Fesneau, Luis Planas Puchades, Julia Payne, Sybille de la, Gareth Jones Organizations: Russian, REUTERS, Rights, Union, European Commission, CAP, Thomson Locations: Ukraine, Velykomykhailivka, Dnipropetrovsk region, Rights BRUSSELS, France, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Black, Moscow, Romania

☆ French government to spend $216 million to destroy excess wine as younger consumers drink less alcohol
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The French government hopes to shore up the country's wine industry by purchasing excess wine. The excess wine will be turned into industrial alcohol used in hand sanitizer or cleaning products. France's wine industry has seen a change in consumption habits, with less people drinking red wine. The impacts of COVID and the high cost of living have contributed to the country's wine industry woes. Between 2005 and 2021, France has seen wine consumption decrease from 33.5 million hectoliters to 25.2 million hectoliters — about a 25% decrease, according to Statista.

Persons: Food Marc Fesneau, Susie Goldspink Organizations: Service, French, of Agriculture, Food, EU, Agence France, Bloomberg, European Commission, Guardian Locations: Wall, Silicon, Presse, Europe, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, AFP

☆ As France widens weather red alert, grape pickers told to work early
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A general view shows the city of Lyon after sunrise from the Fourviere esplanade as France issued a "red alert" for four southern regions amid a spell of excessively hot weather, especially in the Rhone valley, France, August 22, 2023. The Haute-Savoie region, which includes the French side of the Mont Blanc, is among the 49 departments under an orange alert for high temperatures. France's weather service on Tuesday widened its "red alert", the most serious warning, to include 15 more departments from Wednesday, which will cover large swathes of the southeastern Provence region and some areas to the southwest. HIGHEST ALERT LEVELMeteo France on Monday issued a red alert for four departments around the Rhone valley - Rhone, Drome, Ardeche and Haute-Loire. It has now added the departments of l’Ain, la Loire, l’Isère, la Lozère, le Gard, le Vaucluse, l’Hérault, l’Aveyron, le Tarn, le Tarn et Garonne, l’Aude, le Lot, le Lot et Garonne, la Haute Garonne and le Gers.

Persons: Cecile Mantovani, Mont, Aurelien Rousseau, Jerome Despey, FNSEA, Marc Fesneau, Dominique Vidalon, Sybille de la, Angus MacSwan, Bernadette Baum, Conor Humphries Organizations: REUTERS, Authorities, Agriculture, Thomson Locations: Lyon, France, Rhone, Blanc, Europe's, Haute, Savoie, Mont Blanc, Provence, Drome, Ardeche, Loire, l’Ain, la, l’Isère, le Gard, le Vaucluse, l’Hérault, le, Garonne, l’Aude, la Haute Garonne, le Gers, Languedoc, Burgundy, Meteo France, Toulouse

☆ France says pesticide ban will not hit grain exports
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

He said that EU countries including Germany and Bulgaria were also using the pesticide on grain exports to Algeria. The questions in Parliament followed a weekend report by l'Opinion newspaper that said French grain exports would come to a halt from April 25. With the deadline looming, French grain producers had called for a swift response from the government. "We are depriving ourselves of a quarter of the outlets for French cereals," Eric Thirouin, head of French grain growers group AGPB, told Reuters. Exports put at risk by the ANSES decision amount to about 4 billion euros ($4.37 billion) in trade surplus, compared with a total grain trade surplus of about 11 billion euros last year, he said.

☆ Bird flu alarm drives world towards once-shunned vaccines
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Sybille De La Hamaide | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

"That's why every country in the world is worried about bird flu," French agriculture minister Marc Fesneau said. But the fear of trade restrictions remains centre stage for countries reluctant to vaccinate poultry against bird flu. Bird flu can also mutate rapidly and reduce the efficacy of vaccines while programmes are costly and time consuming, as shots often need to be administered individually. Ceva said it was using the mRNA technology used in some COVID shots for the first time in poultry vaccines. The global market for bird flu vaccines would be about 800 million to 1 billion doses per year, excluding China, said Sylvain Comte, corporate marketing director for poultry at Ceva.

☆ Hundreds of tractors enter Paris in protest against pesticide bans
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] French farmers drive their tractors near the Invalides during a protest over pesticide restrictions and other environmental regulations they say are threatening agricultural production, in Paris, France, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah MeyssonnierPARIS, Feb 8 (Reuters) - French farmers drove hundreds of tractors into Paris early on Wednesday to protest against pesticide restrictions and other environmental regulations they say are threatening farm production in the European Union's largest agricultural power. They warned imports of crops not subject to similar pesticide restrictions would threaten French jobs. Environmental activists say pesticide residues cause damage to the soil and wildlife. Unions were expecting 500 tractors and 2,000 farmers from around Paris to join the protest.

The government had been preparing a third and final annual dispensation to cover the 2023 sugar beet crop. Sugar beet growers group CGB condemned the "brutality of the decision" a few weeks before spring planting. That could further discourage sugar beet growers who faced drought-related yield losses last year and put a question mark over sugar production capacity. "When sugar manufacturers don't have enough sugar beet they have to close. The EU court's ruling followed a challenge to a similar exemption for neonicotinoid use on sugar beet in Belgium.

☆ Bird flu situation is worsening in France, ministry says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, Dec 21 (Reuters) - The spread of bird flu has accelerated in the past weeks in France, the European Union's second largest poultry producer, the farm ministry said on Wednesday, raising concern of further shortages. France had already detected a rise in bird flu outbreaks over the summer after seeing its worst wave of the disease last season that lead to the culling of about 20 million chickens, ducks and turkeys and a sharp fall in poultry and foie gras output. By Dec. 20, 217 bird flu outbreaks had been detected on French farms, up from 100 on Dec. 2, and the number of cases has also risen sharply in wildlife, the ministry said. Bird flu has been spreading globally, ravaging flocks, with the toll at more than 100 million birds in Europe and the United States alone. France had put the country on "high" alert for bird flu last month forcing poultry farms to keep birds indoors.

☆ French police clash with protestors at farm reservoir site
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PARIS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Clashes at a protest on Saturday against the construction of a large water reservoir for farm irrigation in western France left scores of police injured, the authorities said. France's worst drought on record this summer has sharpened debate over water resources in the European Union's biggest agricultural sector. French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau condemned on Twitter the violence against police and criticised protestors for "the intention to block a project developed locally over years." Four protestors were injured and six arrested, the prefect said. Reporting by Gus Trompiz, Marc Angrand and Jean-Stephane Brosse, Editing by Franklin PaulOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ France taps strategic fuel stocks to avoid sugar factory stoppages
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-10 | by ( Sybille De La Hamaide | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, Oct 10 (Reuters) - France has released strategic fuel reserves for sugar producers after they warned that a lack of diesel impacting the harvesting of sugar beet could lead to factory stoppages, producer group SNFS said on Monday. Strikes over wages at TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) and Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) refineries have disrupted refining and delivery, leaving a third of French fuel stations running short. The French government said last week that it had tapped its strategic fuel reserves to resupply stations that had run dry. The decision to release strategic stocks late last week followed a meeting between sugar producers and French Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau last Wednesday. "The state agreed to tap the strategic stocks so that the lack of diesel does not affect the factories' proper functioning," he added.

Similar numbers fled in Greece as a blaze fuelled by gale-force winds raged in mountains north of Athens. ABOVE 40CIn Spain, where emergency crews were fighting fires in five regions, national weather service AEMET also forecast higher temperatures. REUTERS/Stelios MisinasTreasury Minister Simon Clarke said Tuesday's "remarkable, unprecedented" record served as "a reminder ... of the importance of tackling climate change." British engineers raced on Wednesday to fix train tracks that buckled in the heat after firefighters worked through the night to damp down wildfires. In southern Europe, far larger wildfires continued to rage.

Persons: Armando Silva, Stephen Belcher, Stelios Misinas, Simon Clarke, Tuesday's, Emmanuel Macron, Eugenio Giani, Christos Stylianides, Marc Fesneau, Manuel Lopes, Renee Maltezou, Angeliki Koutantou, Karolina Tagaris, Dominique Vidalon, Mathieu Rosemain, Sudip Kar, Gupta, Kate Holton, William James, Emma Pinedo, Catarina Demoney, John Stonestreet, Nick Macfie, Alex Richardson, Mark Heinrich Our Organizations: China, Emergency, Science, Technology, Britain's Met, REUTERS, European Union, Fincantieri, Thomson Locations: Tuscany, Athens, ATHENS, LONDON, Europe, London, Italy, Lucca, Greece, China, Texas , Louisiana, Arkansas, Central U.S, Portugal, Spain, Portugal's, Murça, Trieste, Rome, Milan, Florence, Britain, Pallini, France, Croatia, Slovenia, Monfalcone, Penteli, Gironde, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon

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