French farmers 'heavily impacted' by climate crisis, both psychologically and economically.

The climate crisis is no longer a distant projection for French agriculture. According to Thévenot, 2026 marks a turning point where climate disruption has become an immediate agricultural, economic, and cultural reality. While his own farm has been only partially affected because their production cycle ended earlier in the season, he witnesses the daily struggles of vegetable growers, livestock farmers, and fruit producers across southwestern France. Their experiences reveal that this is no longer simply a question of lower yields, but of farm survival, food sovereignty, rural traditions, and mental health. Adaptation is both necessary and unavoidable, yet it cannot happen overnight, Thévenot explains. It requires sustained public investment, structural policy reform, and a transition toward peasant agroecology that enables farmers to remain economically viable while adapting to an increasingly unstable climate.