This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.
Every morning, Breton cows rush in search of fresh grass. But Alain Normant's meadows are yellowed expanses, dried out by a scorching summer. âFor 40 years, we have never seen this. There is nothing left,â laments the breeder from FinistĂšre. Due to a lack of grass, the animals have been fed with fodder since June. All his stock went there: 15,000 euros. "It's a mixture of grasses. It's quite rich, but it's never equivalent to what you find in pasture. As we started, we're going to do this for five months, and I think they're saturated. It's time for them to have some fresh air," points out Alain.
He thought he would receive some money, that of the National Solidarity Compensation, paid by the State in the event of drought. But this year he won't receive anything. Curiously, the official calculation estimates that the grass grew very well in his municipality, as shown by the curve on a graph. "There hasn't been as much yield as the graph shows. I'm annoyed to see the use of material that doesn't reflect the reality of what's happening in nature," he comments.
A faulty satellite?
How are breedersâ losses linked to drought calculated? Since 2023, everything has happened at an altitude of 800 km by satellite. The Airbus company does the calculation: the satellite scans France in squares of 300 meters. On each one, he observes the evolution of the vegetation. Added to this are data on orientation in relation to the sun, altitude, but also temperature and rainfall. Ultimately, the system establishes the level of grass growth from February to October.
A calculation denounced by the main breeders' unions. The satellite is targeted in Cantal. Same anger in ArdĂšche. âNot only is there no water and it is burning, it is still burning, but for the satellite, in ArdĂšche, there is no drought,â denounced BenoĂźt Claret, president of the FDSEA ArdĂšche, in mid-September.
Conversely, some breeders believe that they have been wrongly compensated. Ătienne Salaun raises 70 cows in FinistĂšre. In 2025, he does not see any significant drought. However, the satellite calculates a loss of more than 30%. He received 6,500 euros in compensation. "It was a year that was a little dry in the summer, but generally favorable. We didn't suffer too much, we were able to stock up properly. But the aid kicked in, we were all surprised in December," he confides.
âI wouldnât say itâs a flaw, itâs a lack of informationâ
So, is the satellite wrong? And to what extent? Airbus assures that its algorithm is proven and reliable. If "inconsistencies linked to the combination of billions of data may exist", they represent "0.3% of cases in 35,000 municipalities", according to the company. Alexandre Gohin, research director at INRAE, is responsible for analyzing these inconsistencies as an independent expert.
From the beginning, he has warned about the lack of field data: the latest dates from 2019. "We said: 'There, there are many limits.' There may be a climate, there may be soil qualities, there may be crop practices which differ depending on the territory, which explain these variations. I wouldn't say it's a flaw, it's a lack of information. So, we are reaping what we sowed yesterday, somewhere, in terms of insufficient information to fix the system,â he believes.
To improve the calculation of grass growth in meadows, field data are being collected throughout France. A request from the Ministry of Agriculture which defends, despite criticism, the reliability of the satellite.
