A Burgundian winegrower will be tried this Tuesday for refusing to treat his vines against flavescence dorée.
A Burgundian winegrower appears this Tuesday before the Villefranche-sur-Saône criminal court. Thibault Liger-Belair, winegrower in Nuits-Saint-Georges and vineyard operator in Beaujolais, will be tried for refusing to spray an insecticide on his vines, as required by a prefectural decree.
The facts date back to 2013. Faced with the spread on the territory of flavescence dorée, an incurable yellows of the vines, the prefecture of Saône-et-Loire asks wine growers to sprinkle chemicals on their vines in order to eliminate the insect causing the disease, the leafhopper. Saône-et-Loire is then the most affected department in Burgundy.
“Administrative aberrations”
Thibault Liger-Belair however refuses to apply this decision. The farmer raises his vines biodynamically – without pesticides or fertilizers. In the region, his methods are respected. “He is a very, very qualitative winegrower, who enjoys a very good image in Burgundy”, explains Jean Bourjade, general delegate of Inter-Beaujolais, quoted by AFP.
The winegrower denounces “aberrations” in this administrative decision, his domain in Moulin-à-Vent being located between the Saône-et-Loire and the Rhône. “On the one hand I had the obligation to treat, on the other not,” he explains. He calls for more logic in prefectural decisions. In fact, the decree was taken in a logic of “compulsory control pending a more precise mapping of areas at risk”, further specifies AFP.
Imbalances
His refusal is also motivated by his convictions. Man refuses to spray chemicals which damage wildlife, suppress useful insects and generate imbalances. “In 2013, we saw the reappearance in the treated areas of damage caused by the red spider”, emphasizes the winegrower.
According to the prefecture, cited by the agency, “the fight against this disease is complicated due to the delay of at least a year between contamination and the onset of symptoms”, but the decision to extend in 2013 “the perimeter control throughout the department ”would have proved to be“ effective ”.
If they still remain marginal, farmers who defy court decisions by refusing to spray pesticides on their crops are multiplying. Last year, Emmanuel Giboulot, a winegrower located near Beaune, in Burgundy, was sentenced for the same reasons to a 1000 euros fine, then released by the Dijon Court of Appeal.
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