Victims of hot strokes, increasingly violent bad weather or repeated avian flu epidemics, duck farms are also undergoing climate disruption. While the year 2024 is one of the hottest and most rainy recorded in France, a recent survey conducted by the Association Consequences underlines the threats that today weigh on the emblematic local products of French cuisine, including foie gras, subject to climatic vagaries. Its production is still relatively spared from others, but the players in the sector are starting to mobilize in order to avoid the massacre.
Disturbances of farms and supply
“Climate disruption already touches us in the South West, where summers are getting warmer, Note Agnès Loth, Director of the Association for the Promotion and Defense of Palmiped Products with Foie Gras du Sud-Ouest (PALSO). During the month of August, we have several days with very high temperatures and it has an impact on our animals. ” It is then necessary to pay particular attention to the drilling of the ducks and the cooling of the buildings.
The specialist specifies that these peaks are currently manageable because it is isolated but still warns: “If these hot strokes were to be spread over for whole months, it would be much more complicated. However, we are predicted that droughts will intensify. ” The fattening phase of the palmipeds is particularly monitored, while animals are confined to the interior for several days.
“They are in rooms for ten days and there, it is difficult to control the heat waves, there can be losses, testifies Patrick Faget, director of animal productions of Maïsadour, cooperative committed for agriculture and sustainable food. We put a lot of ventilation and try to refresh the air. ”
The Landais agrifood group brings together 550 poultry producers and foie gras palmipeds, which it accompanies from breeding to the slaughterhouse and it provides corn to feed the animals. However, if the classic foie gras sectors can import their corn, this is not the case with the sectors of protected geographic indication (IGP) of the Southwest which must use a local corn.
“The major risks of global warming for the foie gras sector in France are the supply of corn, whose crop requires a lot of water”thus specifies Anne Collin-Chenot, researcher at INRAE within the laboratory in bird biology and poultry farming (BOA). “It could be a long -term risk, confirms Patrick Faget. We are in a region where corn production is sufficient at the moment but if the climate was warming very seriously and that access to water became complicated, it would be problematic. ”
“It is possible that climate change disrupts the migration paths of wild birds and increases the risk of spreading avian flu virus in the future.”
More rarely, bad weather also disturbs the farms, as Chantal Brèthes, breeder of foie gras in the Landes and president of the PalSo tells. “I had a flooded building, I didn’t know it could happen!”says the producer in the investigation of the Association Consequences. The deletion of hedges to enlarge the plots and the filling of the channels prevent the good flow of precipitation when they are too intense.
“Our external routes for palmipeds are often steep, at the foot of the river so it can overflow, and the recurrence of floods will tend to increase with climate change”abounds Agnès Loth. The latest IPCC report also specifies that the threat is very real: each additional degree Celsius adds 7% of evaporation of the waters of the seas and oceans, and therefore much more precipitable water on the land.
The climate, catalyst for avian flu crises?
Since 2016, the sector has also experienced repeated avian flu epidemics. From 22 million ducks processed, production fell to 9 million. Despite an animal vaccination campaign set up in 2022, the disease continues to wreak havoc. And global warming is likely to further intensify these crises.
“The diffusion of the virus is notably linked to the migration of wild birds. However, they stop more and more in our region, Develops Patrick Faget. In principle, they only passed to France and niche little; Now they remain much more because the conditions are more and more favorable, even in winter. ” An observation documented by Anne Collin-Chenot. “It is possible that climate change disrupts the migration paths of wild birds and increases the risk of avian flu virus spread in the future”confirms the scientist.
The regions producing foie gras, previously affected by occasional vagaries, now seem continuously threatened by increasingly frequent episodes. “Climate warming does not stop (…) It is all the living that moves”summarizes Inaki Garcia de Cortazar, director of the Agroclim unit at INRAE, interviewed by the sustainable info. Farmers must therefore adapt, by finding solutions which take into account the geographic progression of diseases related to climate change, but also by directly adapting their farms to current and future conditions.
Adapt to resist
“We especially do not want to find ourselves in reaction but be proactive”says Agnès Loth du Palso, which manages the IGP Duck label with foie gras from the Southwest. The association created a sustainable development commission in 2019 to take the subject of climate change. With the key, the establishment of a minimal number of trees and hedges on the Palmipeds routes by 2030.
“IGP animals are necessarily raised with an outdoor course, specifies the director. With heat strokes, there must be more shade and they can cool off. Under a tree, you have humidity. “ In parallel, other sites develop in terms of interior infrastructure. “We must find systems to temper our fattening rooms and our farms, describes Patrick Faget. It involves insulation of buildings, ventilation, misting … you have to anticipate because when you do it, you always find solutions. “
“Breeding with foie gras palmipeds is not threatened in the short term.”
The specifications of the IGP label is however very strict and difficult to modular, especially since to advance an entire field in concert is not easy. “We have 1,500 producers, it’s a big liner to drive so there is bound to be a little inertia, concedes Agnès Loth. Despite everything, everyone realizes that you have to move forward on the issue. ”
On the side of corn from ducks, alternatives are already studied, although the supply is not yet in tension. “We are working to find new raw materials less demanding in water, says Patrick Faget. Today, corn is a preponderant element in the farm of foie gras since it represents 98% of the fattening formula. Difficult to do without it, but we are in the research phase. ” Sorghum could for example replace the cereal. “It would be a solution, it has already been tested experimentally, Recalls Anne Collin-Chenot. But in this case, the IGP specifications should be reviewed. ”
A not yet threatened
The current adaptations still remain a long -term objective. “When you plant trees, you don’t do it for us but for future generations”indicates Agnès Loth. No emergency, according to her, since the production of foie gras is not directly affected by the disruption of the weather. “We are not like certain ovine or caprine productions that feed on grass and are faced with food problems because of drought, tempers the director of the PALSO. Foie gras is a product of excellence, with restricted production volumes, so the supply of our animals is not a subject today. ”
This observation is shared by Patrick Faget, who nuances however. “We are fortunate to be in a region where corn production is important, but if it were to warm up seriously, it would be a problem, he notes. Of course it concerns us, but today the breeding of foie gras palmipeds is not threatened in the short term. ”
Let us add that the ducks used for the production of foie gras seem to be resistant to climate. “They are mainly mulards, from a cross between the Beijing duck and the Duck of Barbary, details Agnes Loth. However, the latter arrives from Mexico, so supports the heat well. ” If the catastrophic scenarios on foie gras shortages because of the climate are not yet topical, the intensification of meteorological phenomena may well change the situation in the coming years.
