This was one of the reasons for the angry movement of farmers at the start of the year: the regulations concerning the use of pesticides. It is called the Ecophyto plan in France. It had to be revised, we now know how. The newspaper The Parisian unveils its main developments this Friday morning, May 3. On the menu, an unchanged ambition, but changing means of evaluation, for the benefit of farmers.
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Sixteen years ago, the France had committed to halving its use of pesticides, without succeeding. The objective is reaffirmed in this new version of the plan Ecophyto. The previous plan was put on hold during the latest demonstrations by farmers who had put its abandonment at the heart of their demands. The Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had announced the shelving of the plan on February 1, following which, the trade union organizations involved in the movement had decided to suspend the blockades.
To succeed where it previously failed, the executive is changing its method: all pesticides are no longer put in the same bag. Priority will be given to eliminating the most toxic molecules, those likely to be banned in the medium term at European level.
To support farmers in this transition, 150 million euros are put on the table to find alternatives, whether chemical or mechanical.
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Anger of environmental associations
Never seen before, welcomes the Minister of Agriculture who responds with this measure to a request from the FNSEA, the majority union of the profession: no ban without solution. It was his red line.
Another development: monitoring indicators. France is abandoning its historical index to adopt its European equivalent, a change which satisfies farmers, much less environmental defense associations. They consider this new index far too permissive. According to them, this amounts to breaking the thermometer with the risk of giving a false impression of progress.
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