Farmers' demonstration: “I'm taking the Spanish competition head on”, confides an arborist from Saint-Gilles

Alexandre Proye : “On est obligé de vendre à perte” Midi Libre – Mikael ANISSET

Mobilisé sur l'A9 depuis jeudi, Alexandre Proye, arboriculteur, témoigne des difficultés du métier.

Alexandre Proye is an arborist in Saint-Gilles. On its 130 hectares, it produces approximately 2,500 tonnes of peaches, apricots and figs each year. "We are taking the full brunt of Spanish competition", he said disillusioned. About fifteen years ago, it was still exporting to Germany, England, and Belgium. It's over…

"We only sell on the French market and we sell at a loss on top of that!" This year, on apricots, it was 30% below the cost price… "Spain sends fruit to Rungis for less than what it costs us to produce here. And France has just banned plastic for trays. We don't know how we're going to do it." 

Plus the means to insure

Another anxiety: insurance. "Climate insurance is based on a five-year average. Last summer, I lost 400 tonnes of apricots in a big hailstorm. The insurance companies did not follow." This  year, he did not take out insurance: "I have no choice, I no longer have the means ."

"We always have a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads, we have no horizon. For us, ten cents difference per kilo is huge!"