Brexit it’s not, but glyphosate and broader environmental issues have, in their own way, become toxic for France’s government. After a failed attempt last year to ban the weed killer, the country’s president was accused of broken promises. It was also linked to the on-air resignation of the environment minister. Meanwhile, the gilets jaunes (yellow jacket) protests, sparked last year by an attempt to introduce an environmentally friendly diesel tax, rumble on.
Political fallout
During a live radio interview last August, then Environment Minister Nicolas Hulot asked rhetorically whether France was significantly reducing greenhouse gases or pesticide usage. His answer on both was no. Nor was biodiversity being properly protected, he said. Then he announced he was quitting, slightly stunning the presenters.
The previous June, President Emmanuel Macron’s government had promised to end all commercial glyphosate usage by 2021, due to fears it might be a carcinogen. Last September, however, a legal amendment which aimed to do just that was voted down.
Fast forward to March 2019 and the government, via an email from its Agriculture Ministry, told Meininger’s it remains committed to ending most glyphosate usage by 2021 and all usage by 2023. Provided, that is, that farmers have an alternative solution. The email said although the legal prohibition of glyphosate remains an option, it’s not the current preferred approach. Instead, a government taskforce has been created involving all stakeholders and the focus is on finding viable alternatives.
In the wine sector, the general feeling is that those alternatives can’t come fast enough. That is partly because the president recently turned up the political pressure, and partly because wine producers would prefer to avoid any discussion about dodgy chemicals. Macron dialled up the pressure during a visit in February to the annual Paris International Agricultural Show, an unmissable event for French politicians. He told vintners France could be the first glyphosate-free wine producer and that “in 80% of cases” the transition would happen. Vintners took the hint.
Not that they needed it, said Bernard Farges, president of the National Confederation of AOC Wine and Eau de Vie Producers (CNAOC). The issue for the wine sector is quite simply consumer happiness, particularly given the growing demand for pesticide-free produce. Farges said he believes a 50% cut in the wine sector’s glyphosate use is possible by 2021. But it will probably take up to eight years to remove it altogether.
Is a replacement possible?
As to the alternatives, the first and easiest is to let the grass grow between the vine rows, which is more and more common. The area immediately around the rootstock, where grass competes for water in hotter periods and increases frost damage risk in colder ones, is more challenging. Growing alternative plants, such as mouse-ear hawkweed (Pilosella), around rootstocks can help. This prevents grass growth without creating water competition or lowering soil temperatures in chilly weather.
What’s more likely, according to the latest results from the government’s new glyphosate resource group, is mechanical weeding using special mowers or robots. The group combines members of INRA, France’s national agricultural research group, with experts from the Chambers of Agriculture (APCA). The drawback here, as with all new machinery, is that extra costs are always harder for smaller growers. The mowing devices might additionally be difficult to use on very rocky or steeply sloped plots.
Other alternatives have their own drawbacks or are not yet feasible. Thermal weeding using hot water, for example, is still under development and there are already concerns that the effects may be too brief. That would mean a need for multiple treatments and therefore high fuel and time costs.
Covering the soil around the vine trunk with plastic is another solution, but it is impracticable for environmental reasons. Biodegradable plastic does not work either. Further out, there are hopes for a bio-control product that would stop the grass growing without damaging the environment. If and when it were approved, it could be used in conjunction with mechanical weeding, the resource group said.
For now though, the issue looks set remain a thorn in the side of both government and the wine sector. Nor is there any sign of the gilets jaunes movement quitting. The combination likely has Macron pouring himself an extra glass of glyphosate-grown wine now and then.
Sophie Kevany
