Financial difficulties –
Faced with the crisis, the winegrowers in revolt target imports
Some 200 Vaudois, Valais, Genevois and Neuchâtel winegrowers launched a protest movement on Monday in Gilly.
Some 200 people participated in this round table entitled “The harvest of despair”. They say their fed up of foreign competition at low cost.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
- Romands in patriotic t-shirts express their distress in Gilly.
- Local consumption falls while import reaches seven out of ten bottles.
- Viticulturalists ask for a doubling of direct payments for 2025.
- National unity remains fragile without the support of the German winegrowers.
Locality panels in wine villages are not yet turned, but between farmers and winegrowers, the claims are close. Un unfiring foreign competition or financial difficulties and risk of bankruptcies are words that were frequently pronounced on Monday evening in Gilly. Eighteen months after the agricultural revolt, A group of French -speaking winegrowers invited his peers to react. Red white cross t-shirts with a bunch of grapes on the chest, they expressed their discomfort of the moment.
The wine consumption in fall leads to liquidity and increase in stocks. Add to that importing seven bottles consumed out of ten And the scapors fear that they cannot sell their fall production. Whether at the regional, cantonal or federal level, the committee proposed ideas for measures to be implemented. And above all insisted on the necessary solidarity between operators, when buyers have already announced that they could not engage in the full management of the 2025 harvest.
Without consensus of the Swiss wine sector, fighting foreign competition will not be simple, recalled the national councilor Jacqueline de Quattro.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
“Only cantons can react in the short term. We offer a doubling of direct payments for 2025, a quick and little bureaucratic measure to keep the course in an emergency, “said Richard Pellissier, Vigneron and Arboriculturer Valaisan. The reintroduction of interest -free loans and the reduction or ban on advertising on low -end foreign wines are also on the menu. The premium to the uprooting of the vines has not been retained (read below).
Target foreign competition
Various proposals for supporting agriculture at the federal level also emanated from these exchanges that have remained courteous. “Faced with a branch in danger, we ask for the activation of the backup clause provided for in the WTO agreements. The free trade agreements must also be rethought. Each signature, agriculture is toast. If necessary, we will support a referendum, “continued the producer of Zion.
The Viticultural Revolt Committee wore red white cross t-shirts with a bunch of grapes on the chest.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
The problem is not new. Already in 2001, Willy Cretegny, president of the Swiss Association of Independent Vigrants-Engineers, went up to Bern. In 2019, The movement “the grapes of anger” made his leader, Alexandre Fischer, the Vaudois of the year 2020. All are still there.
If instances such as The Interprofession of Vaud Wines or the Vaud vigner federation provided their support, to fight against foreign competition will not be simple, recalled Jacqueline de Quattro. “The perception of viticulture is not uniform at the Swiss level. Its value is strong in French -speaking Switzerland, but in German -speaking Switzerland, the main argument will be that alcohol is a threat to public health, “explained the national councilor.
Lancer of a French -speaking agricultural revolt, Arnaud Rochat came to support the wine movement.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
Genevan deputies, Lionel Dugerdil (UDC) and Patricia Bidaux (the center) presented two future federal resolutions, of which they hope for other wine cantons. They aim to limit importation, by adapting contingents to current consumption or by binding it to counterpagements in favor of Swiss production. “We are targeting all agricultural products, because we know that defending only the vine is complicated,” said the elected official. “We must defend our market,” added Arnaud Rochat, spearhead of agricultural revolt, present among the 200 participants.
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Shoot the same rope
In Bern, the concerns of viticulture did not fail to touch the old winemaker Guy Parmelin. The Minister recently spoke with Olivier Mark, boss of the Interprofessional Community of Vaudois Wine (CIVV), on the question of a limitation. “We can achieve a goal that we have never achieved, but we will have to shoot the same rope. Young and old or Valais, Geneva and Vaudois, ”said the director.
Lancer of the referendum against the blackcurrant of Dijon, Willy Cretegny is still there.
Yvain Genevay / Tamedia
While the struggle begins, national unity is not yet there yet. “I made a dozen phones to mobilize German -style colleagues, without success. It was even replied that if some people go bankrupt, it is the law of the system, ”concludes Philibert Frick, producer of Féchy. The struggle begins. The first battle will be to create unity.
Valérie Dittli: “We will be alongside the winegrowers”
Three questions in Valérie Dittli, head of the Vaudois department of agriculture, sustainability and climate and digital:
What is your look at the current French viticulture crisis?
During this summer, I read a special issue of the newspaper “Le Monde”. He speaks of a viticultural “polycris”. The word is right. The sector is faced with economic, societal and climatic upheavals. Our viticulture – so important for our heritage, our economy and our moments of conviviality – is going through a major crisis. The climate disruptions the seasons, advances the harvest, and exposes our vineyards to late gels, heat waves or droughts. We must strengthen our adaptability and protect this old know-how which makes the richness of our terroirs. But the challenges are also economic. Wine consumption decreases, especially among young generations. The import regime submits the Vaudois and Swiss wine sector to intense competition. Habits change, cultural references are evolving. Our winegrowers must imagine the wine of tomorrow. We will be alongside them for this.
What rapid solutions can the canton of Vaud bring?
Faced with current challenges, we must structure a global response. European wines also shade us. It is time for collective awareness and solidarity – on the part of consumers, restaurateurs and mass distribution – translate concretely to allow our winegrowers to raise their heads with dignity and success.
In the current context of debt brake, what to think of the idea of doubling direct payments?
It is a federal competence. I can act at the cantonal level by intensifying the Vaudois plan of viticulture recovery set up by my predecessor, Philippe Leuba. The canton has entrusted mandates to the CIVV. First of all, an investment program to modernize the cellars and give them access to more green energy. Then, a reinforced promotion of Vaud wines. Currently, a reflection in terms of priorization is underway, especially in the price of bulk wines.
Why not tear out vines?
Faced with cellars still housing stocks of production 2024, or even 2023, would the solution simply not to snatch vines? Claude Blanchard proposed this solution, Already in place in Genevawhere a bonus of 5 francs per square meter torn off is paid. “We cannot sell the harvest for a year 2024 less productive. Personally, I would prefer to reduce my charges and focus on the sale that working in the void, ”explains the Bougy-Villars winegrower.
Instead, the Vaudois imagines olive trees or long stems. “Or even fallow, since it is imposed on farmers,” he breathes. However, his proposal did not obtain support. “We discussed it, without keeping this measure, because we only produce 30% of national consumption. The problem comes from importation, ”said Richard Pellissier.
Wine broker, Jean-Luc Kursner also focused on the theme. “If we were to tear off, should it be done in the plain to save the historic hillsides or in these hillsides, whose maintenance costs more?” questioned the former Féchy winemaker.
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