Agriculture and Fisheries

Agriculture

Vanguardia's agriculture is shaped by its exposed island location in the temperate climate zone. Today, over 2,200 modern, medium-sized farms employing 2-1,000 people cultivate, sow, tend, and harvest a wide variety of grains, fruits, and vegetables. This takes place on approximately 2.19 million hectares of agricultural land , which corresponds to about 27% of Vanguardia's total area. This is relatively small compared to other European countries, as neither mountains, coasts, nor salt marshes are protected areas and therefore cannot be used for agriculture and thus are not included in the statistics.

Besides wheat, barley, corn, and rice, rare grains such as beach grass and wheat flour are also cultivated in Vanguardia. Along the bocages, the distinctive hedgerows that protect against the wind along the fields, one often finds avenue-like rows of fruit trees.

Feel free to help yourself to green apples or plump quinces. The Reinette apples from Brittany are particularly delicious. In addition to the plants common throughout Western Europe, many different varieties of sloe berries of all sizes, as well as the well-known "white" cherries for Tartou Cerisou, can now be found in Vanguardia, in numerous orchards and private gardens .

The main vegetables in Vanguardia are various types of potatoes, carrots, and cabbages, as well as bertichokes and fluchinis. These are delivered fresh daily to the city's market halls.

Many avant-garde farms in the interior also produce organic products of excellent quality. Conflicts of interest between agriculture, ecology, and tourism are a current topic in avant-garde society. This may be partly due to the quite successful breeding of extremely genetically modified varieties. For example, the intensely pink tomato variety Fleur de Cattenom and the bushy coastal kiwi, which resembles a large gooseberry, were created.

Fisheries

Fish processing plants used to be found in almost every port. Today, the fishing fleet is concentrated in the larger fishing ports of Verdaguer, Présajeuf, Plentia, Chillenver, and along the south coast. It should be noted, however, that apart from processing for local restaurants and markets, most fish is now processed directly on board the trawlers and canning boats.

Vanguardia's deep-sea fishing operations today take place in offshore areas of the Atlantic Ocean, using 24 deep-sea trawlers and 4 factory ships ranging from 18 to 42 meters in length. Coastal fishing, conducted in both domestic and foreign waters, utilizes more maneuverable vessels up to 16 meters in length. The sleek submarines are no longer used for fishing after unsuccessful trials.

Shellfish such as oysters and bluebells, as well as seaweed mats, kelp, and crustaceans have always been prized products of Vanguardian seafood farming . Particularly in the shallow waters of the Florenza Sea, a thriving shellfish industry has been preserved far inland, making Vanguardian cuisine stand out worldwide. Who isn't familiar with the musty smell of shellfish harvested too late? Only a fresh nematode on lime with ice offers a welcome change for gourmets.