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Between the sixty perfume flower producers, settled in the Pays de Grasse between the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes, a joke is shared from generation to generation.
To hope for a good harvest, you have to light a candle in the Sainte-Rita church in Nice, a saint who is thus supposed to protect the flowers and those who pamper them.
But in recent years, and again since January, the joke is taken a little more seriously, even if when it is mentioned, it still makes some people laugh.
In the hope of the most superstitious, a wish goes straight to the sky.
Rain, quickly, and immediately!
For 47 days in these departments, no tears have flowed from the clouds.
This is scheduled for Sunday, but a single “drach” will not be of much use.
“It's healthy, we take everything that falls!
, slips Carole Biancalana, in contract with the Dior house.
It needs to rain now
to
be able to water this summer.”
The challenge is to stock up on reserves for the summer season, which like the previous ones, is getting hotter and longer.
Temperatures reach 40 degrees and the air is less humid than usual, especially in the Var.
For these producers, this lack of rain and therefore of water in the groundwater table becomes worrying.
For luxury perfume manufacturers, back in force in Grasse for a short time, this is also starting to raise questions.
“With nuances
, weighs Carole Biancalana.
We must not be alarmist.”
Yield at risk
Several productions feel the danger approaching.
Those who grow jasmine and tuberose even more than roses, because of the specificities of the flowers.
These require more water.
“This really raises questions
, underlines, a little more worried than these colleagues, Philippe Garnerone, who produces jasmine and tuberose for Guerlain.
In my opinion, the risk of losing jasmine plants due to lack of water exists.
If this is the case, we lose three years for it to start again.
The tuberose bulbs are not yet in the ground.
They will be in mid-April.
"It's the water that will make the stems rise"
, explains Philippe Garnerone.
If the winter rains do not fall, watering will be lacking in two months to make these flowers grow.
Read alsoHow Grasse (re)became the epicenter of perfume?
The health and yield of roses are also of concern.
“If the rain doesn't come, we'll have to start watering now.
Doing it in March is not our habit, ”
said Armelle Janody, president of the association Fleurs d’exception du Pays de Grasse, which has around thirty members.
But wants to qualify:
“it is much too early to establish that perfume plants are threatened with extinction because of climate change.
Generalizations should not be made!
But we are making observations and yes, there are legitimate concerns.
Most growers use the “drop by drop” technique, which, as its name suggests, allows watering to be controlled down to the drop.
This gives hope that they will not be affected by water restrictions if there were to be any.
On March 7, a decision will be taken in this direction for the Alpes-Maritimes, the Var, being already under a mode of limitation of consumption.
Solidarity and new solutions
Another reason for concern, the state of the soil, parched, a phenomenon all the more visible with a land between clay and limestone in places.
This would impact the rose bushes, growing less tall and therefore producing fewer flowers.
Lesser quantities would halt the entire supply chain, with scarcity leading to higher prices for the final product.
The quality would not drop.
“On the contrary
, wants to believe Armelle Janody, herself a producer.
I tend to say that flowers, when under relative stress, grow more fragrant."
This is at least a cause for celebration in this tense and uncertain climatic context.
Another nightmare remains: that of a late frost, which would be almost fatal for production.
Read alsoThe perfume of Grasse, the essence of art
Between them, the producers show solidarity.
All know each other.
And organize themselves:
“we are thinking together about new solutions to succeed in producing while consuming less water, because we have less
,” insists Carole Biancalana.
We are only at the beginning of the challenges that await us and we are not remaining inert.
For example, when pruning roses, the cut wood is reused and crushed to put it back to the roots in order to keep the humidity longer.
"We share and optimize good practices"
, adds the one who was at the origin of the association in 2006.
A wastewater reuse project is also under study.
The mayor of Grasse, Jérôme Viaud (Les Républicains), had mentioned it in his speech during the assizes of water, on January 23.
“We must rethink water management and allow the development and implementation of alternative solutions.
The establishment of Reut (reuse of treated wastewater) appears to be a possibility that is still too underdeveloped
,” said the man who is also president of the association of mayors of the Alpes-Maritimes.
This would secure useful water for watering the crops of perfume flowers, but also the golf course of Saint-Donat, nearby.
At this stage, the producers say they are interested, ready to look at this option to ensure the quality of the water and keep their organic label.
“Agribashing” of the dreaded luxury
For his part, Maurin Pisani and his jasmines are fighting another battle.
That of raising awareness that flower growers are not to be singled out.
He pulls out the figures:
“Farmers only consume 2% of the water, 3% for industry and the rest... it's for domestic use in the department!
My own fight is to make people understand that we shouldn't be asked to make an effort.
We are already doing enough, and it will not help to solve the problem!”
To water one hectare last year, he says he consumed 3000 m3.
This debate, almost political, depends for him on the survival of the sector.
He fears an “agribashing” and being attacked, like golf courses, on the pretext that his activity serves a luxury market that some consider useless.
"You have to explain that it's the DNA of a city, of two departments
," he adds.
If a perfume is sold to a wealthy person in Shanghai, families live here.
So much the better!”
A parallel cause for the same wish: the sustainability of a return activity for the good of a region.
But it is rumored that a candle has indeed been lit at the Sainte-Rita church.
