Hail as hazard: changing attitudes to crop protection against hail damage in France, 1815-1914

French peasants were accustomed to confronting environmental hazards such as droughts, storms and floods as well as diseases afflicting their crops and livestock. Their insecurity of living had traditionally been countered by a fatalism fostered by the Church. During the nineteenth century, scientific knowledge undermined the traditional role of popular religion and encouraged farmers to embrace a rational form of risk management, that of commercial or mutual insurance. This paper considers how French peasants addressed the specific hazard of damage to crops by hailstorms between 1815 and 1914. It examines the transition from ringing church bells to ward off storms to reliance on formal insurance but it also touches on attempts to divert or mitigate storms using hail cannon. It refers particularly to the middle Loire Valley département of Loir-et-Cher within the general context of France as a whole. It also compares the growth of hail insurance with that of livestock insurance. It concludes by briefly comparing the situation in France with that in England.