While France is experiencing a historic drought this winter and a lack of water which is "chronic", the use and storage of water have become a major discussion topic among farmers at the Paris Agriculture show. "How do we give ourselves the means to have a more permeable soil so that the water enters it, then once it is in the water table, it will be available, whether it is for the farmers who irrigate, for the consumers who need drinking water or for the farmers who do not irrigate?" asks Nicolas Girod, a farmer from eastern France. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES