📢 Organic sector press conference, 23td September 2026 🌱📰

On this European Organic Day, GAB 10 and the Association des Champagnes Biologiques have joined forces to bring together the press, elected representatives and institutional stakeholders to present the official 2025 figures for organic farming in the Aube department and the Champagne AOC, before reviewing the challenging 2026 growing season and the need to rethink water management.

A trend that is stabilising.
Following strong growth up to 2023, the rate of conversion to organic farming and the area under organic cultivation are slowing down. The organic sector in Champagne now comprises 617 wine-growing estates and accounts for 8 per cent of the AOC Champagne vineyard area.
The ACB represents 186 members covering 1,198 hectares under organic cultivation or in conversion, representing nearly 50 per cent of the appellation’s 2,600 hectares of organic land. “We can be pleased with this strong representation, which reinforces the legitimacy of our organisation to speak on behalf of the Champagne organic sector,” reaffirms President Jean Sébastien Fleury.
In the Aube department, the GAB 10 records 325 organic farms (8 per cent of all farms, despite a slight decline of 3.3 per cent).
Consumption of most organic products is on the rise again in 2025, whilst that of organic wines is falling for the first time… a trend affecting the entire wine sector, which is facing a far more severe crisis than the organic wine sector.

The major challenge for 2026: water 💧
66 French departments are facing a drinking water crisis, including Aube, which is at the highest VigiEau alert level. 2026 is set to be the hottest summer on record, followed by an autumn of unprecedented drought. The ACB reaffirms its opposition to the irrigation of vineyards: “It’s a short-term fix that is bound to come to an end, and much sooner than we think,” points out Delphine Brulez, the organisation’s general secretary. When water becomes scarce, food supplies will take priority, and wine is not part of that. Instead, the focus is on regenerative hydrology: compost, mulching, grass cover and vitiforestry. Pilot sites are set to be established in the Aube and Marne departments.

This was the ACB’s first conference, an initiative to be repeated to shine a spotlight on the organic wine sector in Champagne.

#OrganicViticulture #Champagne #Organic #Aube #WaterManagement ACB GAB10 BGE