1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 378 What? It got snatched away?

Everyone has a different personality.

Ines, who is meticulous at work, can also look at flowers in front of a group of subordinates like a kind old mother, like Yoronan.

However, Juliet, who had a very good relationship with Ronan in private, did not want her colleagues to know that she knew Ronan, perhaps because she was a government official and had many taboos.

Seeing Juliet's behavior, Ronan understood her attitude. He then fed her dessert at that table again, but didn't go there again.

The farmers noticed that the officials' attitude had suddenly changed, urging Ronan to "press his advantage" and go over to chat with them.

Ronan explained the importance of 'step by step' to them, saying that they should stop here for now, as they would meet again in the afternoon and then see how things went.

The farmers were persuaded by Ronan.

In short, as long as Ronan can befriend those few officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, they don't care what means he uses.

2pm sharp.

All the farmers of Lourmaran, along with some of their families, appeared in the square in front of the old church, carrying small stools or benches.

Lourmaran doesn't have an indoor venue that can accommodate too many people for meetings; the government's meeting room can only seat a dozen or so people, so today's meeting has to be held here.

Lourmaran has only a little over 100 farmers, so the small square is big enough for them.

During the meeting, everyone noticed that in addition to the three officials from the province of Vaucluse, there was a man wearing a tie in front of the microphone. When he gave his opening remarks, Sylvie introduced the man as someone from an insurance company.

"Anything related to insurance is bound to be bad!" Henry muttered angrily from below.

"Will this weather insurance be like home insurance, where it's 'mandatory' to buy?" Fabian's expression wasn't much better.

Although no one in Lourmaran would voluntarily pay for home insurance, they 'deeply resent' this mandatory insurance, considering it a scam.

Cornell asked Pierre, looking rather naive:
Have you found out what weather insurance is?

After the Ministry of Agriculture notified the Lourmaran government of its intention to promote weather insurance, the government immediately notified the farmers.

After that, Pierre started asking around, trying to find out exactly what this weather insurance was.

Pierre shook his head in frustration, his brows furrowed tightly.
"I don't know, this is the first time weather insurance has appeared in Provence."

"They can't even handle the weather properly, so what kind of weather insurance are they offering? And among the people sitting on the stage, do any of them really know anything about farming? They probably haven't even touched a hoe before! Humph! Anyway, I will absolutely not buy it, and I won't buy it even if you force me!" Henry became more and more agitated as he spoke.

"Damn it, can you keep your voice down? I can't hear what's being said on stage," Theo warned Henry, glaring at him.

Henry wanted to retort, but after glancing at Ronan sitting in the front row, he shut his mouth.

Blanco arranged Ronan in the front row, next to the government officials, to show his important position in the village.

No one around was distracted, and Ronan did hear the first half clearly, but there was nothing useful about it.

The gentleman from the insurance company launched a long, rambling explanation of the original intention behind their insurance policy and how many difficulties they had overcome. Ronan was so bored by all the empty rhetoric.

Although spring has only just begun to emerge, it feels very comfortable to bask in the sun at this time of day in the afternoon.

"I wonder if there's a beach trip planned for Nice. We can't go into the sea now, but I guess it'll be okay to lie on the beach and take a nap with Zoe?" In a daze, Ronan's thoughts drifted to the trip a few days later.

"This chair is comfortable to sit in, but it might not be suitable for sleeping. There's no support for the neck. We need to take that into account when designing the next one." Ronan had brought his new chair with him today, and his thoughts quickly drifted back to this.

"I don't know when it will end. I didn't see Zoe at noon." Ronan crossed his legs and started shaking his right foot rapidly.

Ronan shared a similar mindset with the farmers, believing that the weather insurance was a scam and definitely useless.

It might be just as awful as the 'Elimination Plan'.

As Ronan was pondering these thoughts, the speaker on stage changed from someone from the insurance company to someone from the Ministry of Agriculture.

Ronan quickly sat up straight and put his legs down, because he had to listen carefully to the Ministry of Agriculture's speech because of Juliet.

But what is the role of the Ministry of Agriculture today?

The speaker at the Ministry of Agriculture was a young male official:
"Next, I will introduce the specific coverage and content of 'weather insurance'."

A chorus of chairs and stools being moved around filled the audience.

Now we come to the part that farmers care about most: what exactly is this weather insurance?

The official's voice was clearly transmitted to everyone's ears through the two large loudspeakers in the square:

"Provence agricultural weather insurance mainly covers the following natural disasters: frost, hail, drought, torrential rain, and floods."

The farmers' expressions gradually turned serious.

This insurance covers all possible weather disasters; it seems quite comprehensive.

“赔偿标准如下：-5℃以下持续4小时，赔偿损失50%-80%；直径≥2cm的冰雹，赔偿损失30%-100%；降雨量＜年均50%，赔偿损失的40%-70%；24小时降雨＞100mm，可赔偿损失的60%-90%具体赔付比例判断规则如下”

Not a single farmer in the audience made a sound. Even Henry, who had been grumbling since he sat down, fell silent. Everyone listened intently to the person on stage explaining the insurance details.

With favorable triggering conditions and a high payout ratio, this insurance seems pretty good?

Pierre gestured to the eager farmers not to rush, to listen a little longer, but some impatient ones couldn't help but ask:
"What about the premium? How much is the premium? That's what I'm more concerned about!" Having just finished the previous part, the official moved the premium information, which should have been at the end, to the beginning.

He flipped through a few pages of the documents in his hand:

"The insurance premium calculation formula for vineyards is 3%-5% of the annual output value, for olive groves it's 2%-4% of the annual output value, and for lavender it's..."

The once quiet farmer's pile instantly erupted into a frenzy.

It's calculated based on annual output value?
In other words, the more you earn, the more you pay?

Those who were good at math immediately calculated the amount they needed to pay.

"God, I have to pay at least 2000 francs a year, and possibly more than 3000! That's more than home insurance!"

Most farmers share this attitude, believing that the premiums are too high and simply unacceptable.

Henry started gritting his teeth again:

"This is a blatant scam! Weather disasters in Provence only happen once every few years, and all this money is going straight into their pockets!!"

The audience erupted in chaos, and even the official's addition of two 'discount mechanisms'—a 20% reduction in insurance premiums for installing hail nets and a 10% reduction in premiums for five consecutive years without claims—failed to calm the farmers down.

Blanco stood up several times to ask everyone to be quiet, but many people were too busy talking to pay attention to him.

Just as he was about to grab the microphone, Juliet, who had been sitting quietly to the side for a long time, suddenly snatched it and banged it several times, the loud noise drowning out the murmurs.

Why do you think the Ministry of Agriculture is appearing in Lourmaran alongside insurance companies?

Juliet was clearly the 'leader' of the group; once she spoke, the room finally fell silent.

After everyone calmed down and thought about it:
Yes, weather insurance is offered by insurance companies, so why is the Ministry of Agriculture promoting it?
They probably won't end up with the insurance premiums, will they?

Juliet had already visited several villages and anticipated the farmers' reactions, so she said calmly:
“I know what you’re thinking. You’re probably thinking, ‘How ridiculous that officials who have never even set foot in the fields are here to teach us how to farm!’ But unfortunately, my friends, I’m not here today to tell you ‘what to do,’ but to ask you—what can we do together?”

Juliet's imposing presence and speech stunned the people sitting in the square.

What can we do together?
Juliet's emotions suddenly surged:
“I think any of you know better than I how scorching the sun is in Provence, how brutal the rainstorms are, and how much the weather in Provence likes to play tricks on us. We’ve tried countless times to sit down and negotiate with nature, but we have no bargaining chips; we can’t even get to the negotiating table—”

She suddenly slammed her fist on the table several times, as if she were hitting everyone's chest:
"But do we really have no bargaining chips? Perhaps we didn't 500 years ago, and we might not have been qualified 100 years ago, but now, in 1987, I believe we are qualified enough to negotiate with nature! Our bargaining chips are the farmland that generations of farmers have lost due to disasters over hundreds and thousands of years."

We forced the insurance company to revise this weather insurance policy dozens of times, all to achieve three things: fast claims processing, guaranteed coverage, and you have the final say. What does fast claims processing mean? A guaranteed response within 24 hours of a disaster. What does it mean to be easy to understand? The Ministry of Agriculture will supervise the entire claims process to ensure every farmer receives payment. What does it mean to have the final say? The insurance is not mandatory; participation is voluntary. However, to alleviate everyone's financial burden, we have secured more preferential policies.

Juliet didn't even glance at the manuscript in front of her, and smoothly began her introduction:

"First, the premium can be deducted from agricultural income tax; second, a Vaucluse agricultural disaster fund will be established to provide an additional 20%-30% of the insured amount for extreme disasters; third, in conjunction with the European Community, a subsidy of up to 30% of the insured amount will be provided to grape growers, with specific policies as follows."

What Juliet said really stunned everyone.

Even a rebellious fellow like Henry could see that the three officials who came this time were genuinely there to help them, not to swindle money.

Moreover, many farmers had a thought in their minds—he really is a high-ranking official from the province of Vaucluse. He has such a powerful presence. He calmed down such a chaotic scene with just a few words!

“This is a tough character.” Pierre couldn’t help but narrow his eyes.

The details of the subsidies Juliet mentioned were so complex that even the officials of the Lourmaran government couldn't calculate them all at once and kept recording and calculating them on paper.

“Now I’ll hand the time over to my colleague. You can ask him any questions you have.” Juliet handed the microphone back to him.

Ronan, sitting in the front row, was also carefully calculating the subsidies. He believed that the government had provided so many benefits that the economic pressure on farmers was already very small.

Just as Mr. Llorente said—everyone in the Ministry of Agriculture who needed to get things done has done a lot recently.

At the same time, Ronan reassessed his image of Juliet.

This unassuming association member's performance today really surprised him; he seems to have quite a knack for business.
As Ronan was silently observing Juliet, the official suddenly gave him a look, as if she had something to say to him, and asked Ronan to leave with her.

Ronan followed Juliet out of the old square, and before she could speak, he said:
“I also have something to ask you about. I want to ask about that ‘experimental field’ project.”

Juliet frowned:
"We're heading back now that we've finished talking about insurance; we have other plans to make later."

"Oh, I see. I'll call you tonight then." Ronan scratched his head, looking somewhat annoyed.

If he had known there wouldn't be a chance for a deep conversation this time, he would have called Juliet a few days ago to ask about it.

Juliet suddenly gave a strange smile:

"Just because we don't have time to talk in detail today doesn't mean we won't have time tomorrow or the day after. I guess we'll have a get-together in the next couple of days."

Ronan shook his head:

"Unlikely, Ines has been very busy lately."

Ines has been extremely busy lately, and she'll be going to Nice next Monday; they spoke on the phone.

Juliet suddenly became serious:
“No matter how busy Ines is, he will definitely be eager to get everyone together. Someone has taken over Jerome’s winery. You didn’t know? I called you out to ask if you know who bought it.”

Ronan's mouth can swallow a whole apple.

what?
Stellar Winery has been bought?!
(End of this chapter)