At the beginning of January, Serge Zaka, an agroclimatologist at the TI company, expressed concern about the “softness” in France, which has persisted since the beginning of December, and which should continue until this weekend, marked by the arrival of “a flux from the northwest”, according to Météo France. “It will therefore be almost a month since the plants have been subjected to a false spring. The awakening of species insensitive to day length will continue,” he explains.
While we now know that the years 2015 and 2022 were the hottest ever recorded in the world and that 2022 was a record year in France, a proven “symptom” of global warming, according to the meteorological institute, the consequences on life are numerous. . Melting ice, rising waters, record weather events… Climate change weighs heavily on living beings, with fauna and flora at the forefront.
Blooms that are “a month and a half” earlier
With a record first decade, “the mildest ever seen in France”, again according to Météo France, plants and crops are already beginning to sprout. A flowering that is “a month and a half” ahead, according to Serge Zaka. Early flowering of several weeks, which takes farmers by surprise. “For more than a month, the plants have been subjected to a false spring,” explains the agroclimatologist in the columns of the echoes.
But, problem, the early blooms weaken the plants: in the event of a frost episode, they will not survive. “If the sweetness lasts, the plants will continue to develop and will be more sensitive to frost in March and April,” explains Serge Zaka, on the BFMTV microphone.
“The winter dormant period of fruit trees and vines risks ending prematurely and buds hatching too early, which can lead to bud-destroying frost problems like in 2021 and 2022 on vines,” Marie Launay, deputy director of the Inrae Agroclim unit, abounds. (National Institute for Agrarian, Food and Environmental Research), with our colleagues, after an episode of frost that had caused enormous damage in 2021.
The risk of epidemics
Another problem: earliness “exhausts” crops. According to Philippe Vouters, manager of the nursery at the Solignac garden center in Haute-Vienne, quoted by France 3, “some trees, if they are exhausted too much, if they have not had enough rest, some will die and others will amputate branches to survive.”
As has been pointed out by echoes, temperatures well above normal for the season, risk weighing down cereal crops and certain fruits, which flourish after a cold period. “Farmers fear accidents,” adds Marie Launay. Especially since softness promotes the development of harmful species, such as “fungi” and “bark beetles”. “Epidemics are also potentially earlier,” warns Marie Launay.
Source: BFM TV
