The cultivation of genepi threatened by global warming

Genepi is a rare and protected plant, and its harvesting is regulated in France, even forbidden in certain areas. For this reason and in order to control the quality of its supplies, Distillerie Meunier decided to create its own organic genepi culture in 2020, in Savoie.

A quantity of genepi harvested below expectations...

In this article, we mentioned the life cycle of the genepi, with in particular the phase of flowering which occurs in the months of June/July.

This year, the flowering of genepi within our plantation was rather early. Indeed, the hot weather that hit the Alps in May caused the flowering to start 2 to 3 weeks earlier than in 2021, which resulted in a lower yield.

Among our three cultivated fields, the plots with the highest altitude resisted better, and offered us better yields, with a great majority of yellow genepi (artemisia umbelliformis) and a very small quantity of black genepi (artemisia genipi). 

...but an exceptional quality harvest...

Despite the lower than expected quantity, the genepi harvested this year is very aromatic, with an exceptional quality and a lemon aroma quite characteristic of this harvest.

5,000 new young yellow genepi plants were planted on a new plot at the beginning of June. From now on, we cultivate 12 000 plants of genepi in our plantation.

...which reminds us of the fragility of our alpine flora

Global warming and the early heat waves are not without consequences on the flowering and the cultivation of genepi. The life cycle of a genepi plant is now estimated at 2 years, compared to 3 to 4 years for the cooler years, at the beginning of the century. 

This is why we continue our efforts to maintain a reasoned cultivation of genepi on high altitude plots in order to protect this plant which is becoming more and more rare, because clearly threatened by global warming and, to a lesser extent, intensive harvesting.