France: French Vineyards Tackle Climate Change with Innovative Means

When it comes to climate change, France's Beaujolais region is no stranger.

Two decades ago, farmers there were fooled by a warm spell in March.

The buds on the vines burst earlier than usual, resulting in a low yield and poor-quality grapes, reports the Local.

"We thought it was an exceptional event," says farmer Jean Pierre Riviere.

But it's become an almost annual occurrence.

Now, "we're working on these different families to find rootstocks that are more resistant to drought because they're able to develop strong roots and go deep underground to find moisture and be less sensitive to drought," says David Ratignier, vice-president of the Beaujolais villages.

They've added a lot of organic matter to increase water storage in the soil in summer, so it works.

They've also modified the height of vegetation at their research organization to make sure the plants don't get too early in the process of converting the sun's rays into sugars, reports the International Business Times.

"We made a lot of these inputs and in 2022, which was also a very dry year, we still had good results on that," says Ratignier.

But it's not all good news: The region is expected to see Read the Entire Article