Abstract
• Recent events: Numerous violent strikes were organized by the wine growers to draw attention to their difficulties; for instance, they demanded more assistance following the bad weather conditions that ruined the annual harvest.
• A succession of demonstrations: It is a traditional economic crisis, reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s; these protest movements show us the extent of the current wine crisis.
• The crisis' perception: Wine consumption, like a lot of agricultural produce, is "inelastic" (i.e., the quantity total consumed does not increase when the prices are lowered). Consequently, any surplus of production creates reduction in price - stocks rise and prices decrease. The "law of variable proportions", well-known by the agricultural economists, comes into play. This expression can be summarized by: "beyond a certain quantity produced, any offer's increase results in an income fall, which is higher than the rise of the sold quantities".
• Who are affected?: In this context, all the producers are not affected by the same problems. The wine growers who are not completely dependent on wine (those who work part-time, those who have already reached a certain financial maturity and finished paying their land capital and only need to finance the variable loads) can have a real aptitude for an "economic resistance". Moreover, contrary to the majority of Italian or Spanish producers, the French wine growers have always been specialized in their activities. During the bad years, they could not fall back upon compensation from other agricultural incomes. The combination of farming-breeding is not very prevalent in specialized wine areas. On the other hand, the wine growers solely dependent on wine operations, and who have incurred debts, are directly affected. The professionals, who are perfect models of the economic dynamism because they followed the recommendations of the agricultural advisers and the State, and started to invest in the marketing, are the most affected! The fall in income leads to the aggravation of their debt. Faced with the threat of liquidation, they are now demanding explanations from the government.
