Rice production, which for centuries had been restricted to a very small area, for want of irrigation, expanded after the second world war. The Marshall Plan financed a considerable amount of hydraulic infrastructure, along with the equipment that was indispensable to intensive rice growing. After a boom in the 1960s (30,000 hectares), then the crisis of the 1980s (4,000 hectares), rice production took off again, and for the past few years it has been stable at around 18,000 hectares. Rice cultivation needs a lot of water, and it has a major influence on the hydrology of the delta between April and September. But the climate in the Camargue is only just hot enough to bring the crop to maturity; and this applies especially to the long-grain varieties that are most in demand nowadays. Despite the selection procedures developed by the Centre Français du Riz in Arles, Camargue rice faces severe competition in the world market. In the European context, the rice producers of the Camargue now have their own PGI (Protected Geographical Indication).
