Recently-appointed agriculture minister, Marc Fesneau, has announced a series of government measures aimed at helping farmers whose crops were destroyed or damaged by the violent hailstorms which swept across the country late last week.
Speaking on Monday in the east of the Bordeaux region, famous for its vinyards, the minister said the package of measures would include the extension of deadlines for debt repayment, a lowering of fees, and an easing of taxation on farm properties.
The minister said that, in addition to these "classic" measures, he would look at other ways of helping those growers who were victims of "an agricultural disaster".
The most urgent question, the minister told the press on his visit to the commune of Saint-Quentin-de-Caplong, is to find ways to reduce the financial pressure on producers who are clearly going to suffer serious losses in the wake of the storms.
"Our first effort will be to establish exactly how bad the situation is," the minister continued.
"This violent episode affected several departments, but with very different impacts locally.
"We have to look at those who were insured, and those who were not.
"The state is working to establish a case-by-case picture of the situation."
Additional protection from next year
The minister also spoke of the harvest insurance regulations which will come into effect on 1 January 2023.
"We will be doubling the budget from 300 to 600 million euros, and that will enable more farmers to take out insurance."
On the question of prevention, the minister admitted that there was a need for methods of protecting crops against "storm conditions" which are likely to become more violent and more frequent because of climatic warming.
The weekend storm system which crossed France has been described as a "real catastrophe" by the national farmers' association, FNSEA.
Vines, cereal crops and farm buildings were damaged or destroyed.
