France’s fruit sector is undergoing one of its most turbulent phases. As the government tightens restrictions on crop protection – including suspending imports of foods containing residues of five EU‑banned pesticides and blocking attempts to reauthorise banned insecticides – growers face mounting regulatory and agronomic pressure.
The strain is evident at a macro level. In 2025, France recorded its first agri‑food trade deficit in nearly half a century. Apple exports, once a reliable engine of value, have slid from 30% to under 25% over ten years.
At SIVAL 2026 in Angers, the heart of the French orchard basin, sector leaders pointed to three threats: declining competitiveness, growing climate risk – especially around water – and generational renewal.
“We have drier summers and wetter winters,” SIVAL’s president Albert Richard warned. “We need new storage areas to buffer drought and excess rainfall. Eighty percent of an apple is water. If you cannot bring 4,000 cubic metres of water per hectare, you cannot produce an apple.”
Turning up the heat on pests and diseases
While water is a growing constraint, so too are pests and diseases supercharged by climatic extremes. According to Claude Coureau, R&D engineer at the Centre Technique Interprofessionnel des Fruits et Légumes (CTIFL), a key technical and scientific partner of SIVAL 2026, French growers face a north‑south divide. Heavier rainfall complicates fungicide efficacy in the north, while hotter conditions fuel pest outbreaks in the south.
And as chemical options disappear from the toolbox, the pressure intensifies. “Growers have less and less registered chemicals to work with,” Coureau said. “Aphids have got particularly worse in the last two years because we can no longer use neonicotinoids.”
The solution, increasingly, is varietal innovation. CTIFL is screening varieties that mature quickly, reducing exposure windows, and those that are inherently less sensitive to key pathogens.
“If you have scab resistance, you can reduce treatments by 30-50%. If you harvest in August, you avoid autumn rains and storage diseases that affect later varieties like Pink Lady,” Coureau explained. “Combine low sensitivity with shorter production cycles, and you cut treatments significantly.”
Biocontrols are another pillar – though not yet a perfect replacement. “We’re testing a lot of biocontrols,” she noted, “but often they’re less effective than chemicals.”
The retail challenge: Will consumers accept new varieties?
The science may be advancing, but commercialisation is another battleground. Pink Lady and Jazz are among the few newer varieties that have been successfully marketed by retailers and have won strong consumer acceptance, particularly among shoppers willing to pay a premium.
“It is more and more difficult to promote new varieties in supermarkets,” Coureau warned. Without retail support, climate‑smart varieties risk stalling before they reach the shelf.
Growers remain pragmatic, she added: “They are open to solutions that work.”
Not everyone in the sector shares the same view of pesticide policy. Françoise Roch, president of the National Federation of Fruit Producers, criticised what she called the “vilification” of pesticides in French public debate.
Others backed EU plans to accelerate approvals for biocontrol and new plant protection products. SBM Life Science’s Gilles Ravot argued that current regulatory hurdles “are too strong to promote innovation,” with 10‑year timelines making ROI unviable compared to faster US and South American markets.
New varieties steal the show
The SIVAL Innovation 2026 awards list included several new varieties that directly address pesticide restrictions and climate change.
Winner of the SIVAL Innovation Gold Medal, KIARA® shows high tolerance to fire blight – a major disease in pear orchards – and low susceptibility to scald, making it reliable in warm climates. It fits the Williams market segment, resulting from a Pierre Corneille x Harrow Sweet cross, and performs well in storage. And thanks to its excellent taste, Albert Richard is bullish: he hopes KIARA® becomes “the Pink Lady of pears”.
A heat‑proof apple for a hotter Europe
Another medal winner was the STELLAR™ (Hot81A1). Developed through the Hot Climate Partnership involving IRTA (Spain) and PFR (New Zealand), and distributed by Dalival, this targets one problem: heat stress. It maintains colour and quality under high temperatures and shows no known susceptibility to major pests and diseases, an immediate input‑reduction advantage.
Biocontrol and low‑input tools gain momentum
SIVAL 2026’s innovation awards list also reflected a surge in biocontrol adoption. Agrodrone / Invenio Solutions’s Biopose is drone‑based deployment system for mating disruption rings. Used in apples, pears and stone fruit, it provides a scalable, chemical‑free insect control option.
Terresis Agriculture’s SUNFORTIS® is a non‑microbial biostimulant designed to increase tolerance to sunburn, now a serious threat in orchards as heatwaves intensify.
Winner of a Gold Medal, Amoéba’s AXPERA uses patented amoebae technology to control fungal diseases. Commercial launch, in partnership with Koppert, is targeted for 2026 pending regulatory approval.
AI takes centre stage
For the first time, SIVAL also hosted a 48‑hour AI “hackathon”, called Agreen Défi, bringing together 40 students in agronomy and digital technologies to illustrate the potential of AI in tackling real industry problems. Five prototypes emerged, all functional, many near‑commercial.
1. AI analysis of plant variety protection trends
The Community Plant Variety Office, an EU agency in Angers, developed a digital modelling tool that visualises application trends, identifies dropout phases and generates automated reports.
2. An automated varietal data extraction
GEVES, the French Variety and Seed Study and Control Group, came up with a scraper‑based system to collect, standardise and integrate varietal data from PDFs and European registries.
3. AI‑enhanced greenhouse tomato yield forecasting
A CTIFL team developed A hybrid TOMSIM + machine‑learning model predicting yields at +2 and +4 weeks, complete with simulation interface.
4. OCR‑driven soil analysis tool
Soil health company GAIAGO showcased a mobile app using OCR to convert soil test photos into agronomic recommendations.
5. AI career matching for agricultural transition
Les Cols Verts, a French non-profit network dedicated to urban agriculture and food transition, displayed a guidance platform matching career‑changers with training and agricultural roles.
The event, SIVAL organisers said, revealed “a new generation of digitally fluent agronomists capable of designing operational AI solutions in record time” and proved a “bellwether for the role AI will play in shaping the future of horticulture, seeds and fresh produce.”
A sector in transition
SIVAL 2026 offered a clear snapshot of France’s orchard future: fewer chemicals, more climate extremes, fiercer pest pressure, and a sector increasingly dependent on genetics, biocontrol and digital tools.
The question now is whether innovation, regulation and retailer and grower adoption can move fast enough to keep France’s orchard growers competitive in a rapidly shifting global market.
