(2 Apr 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Menton – 6 March 2024
1. Various of lemon farmer Pierre Ciabaud picking lemons
2. SOUNDBITE (French) Pierre Ciabaud, sixth-generation lemon farmer:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS IN SHOT 1, ENDS IN SHOT 3++
“My father would collect around a ton and a half of lemons every 20 days. The valleys of Menton were covered in lemon groves. There were lemon trees everywhere. Today, the land is sold to developers and all you see are buildings. Just buildings everywhere on either side of the street from left to right. There are a couple lemon hills like mine but there is practically no land left. A young person today would not be able to live from lemon farming. It’s not possible anymore.”
3. Aerial of Ciabaud’s home and lemon farm next to highway
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Menton – 2 March 2024
4. Wide of worker tending to lemon groves
ANNOTATION: Decades of development shrunk the amount of land used for farming. But in 2015, the “Menton lemon” was granted protected status.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Menton – 1 March 2024
5. Wide of visitors touring a lemon grove
ANNOTATION: Now, only a small number of producers grow these prized gourmet lemons.
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Herve Inaudi, Caretaker, La Casetta Botanical Garden:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS IN SHOT 5, ENDS IN SHOT 7++
“Since we obtained the geographical indication status for the Menton lemon many new projects have started, notably the citrus convention in April. We also have visitors from all around coming to see our citrus collections.”
7. Visitor tasting lemon during tour
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Menton – 17 February 2024
8. Wide of parade float made from lemons
ANNOTATION: Thousands of visitors pack Menton each year for the Fête du Citron, a festival featuring floats made almost entirely with citrus from Spain.
9. Person tending to parade float made from lemons
ANNOTATION: As Menton lemon producers dwindle, growers are increasingly concerned that the warming climate will add to their challenges in the coming years.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Menton – 6 March 2024
10. Ciabaud clipping lemons from tree
11. SOUNDBITE (French) Pierre Ciabaud, sixth-generation lemon farmer:
++SOUNDBITE STARTS IN SHOT 10++
++PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 12 AND 13++
“We’ve had three years of drought now. Where the water has spilled over and given us some, the water table has not sufficiently replenished this year. The sources have not spilled over, the first time in three years. The seasons are offset and climate warming has a huge impact.”
12. Aerial of lemon grove
13. Detail of Menton lemons on tree
STORYLINE:
When the French Riviera town of Menton prepares to host its lemon festival each year, it assembles more than 140 tons of citrus to build the ornate floats and showy park displays that attract thousands to the Fete du Citron.
But none of it is the actual Menton lemon, a prized variety whose fans included King Louis XIV, who enjoyed drinking its juice and bathing in its essential oils.
Menton was once a leading lemon-growing region in Europe, with a global reputation and exports as far as the United States and Russia in the 18th century. But that was before the French Revolution led to cancellation of laws that protected Menton from competition from other lemon-growing regions, and before the Riviera’s rise as a playground for tourists and the wealthy led to hotels and villas steadily displacing orchards and farmland.
These days, only 56 small producers still grow the high-end lemons, and some worry that a warming climate will add to their challenges in coming years.
AP Video shot by Daniel Cole
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