(source: Greenplanet) Le Monde told the story in France. In Italy, the news was picked up by www.agoravox.it. At first glance, it is an absurd story, but it is very current, dramatically current because the battle between organic agriculture, pest parasites and laws is something extremely serious. In France, an organic winegrower ended up in court because he did not want to use pesticides.
It happened to Emmanuel Giboulot, a winegrower from Burgundy who, on Monday 24 February, had to appear in court in Dijon. The ruling is expected in the coming weeks.
Giboulot is accused of refusing to treat its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines with a pesticide against Golden Flavescence, a plant parasite that affects vines, which is extremely contagious. He faces six months in prison and a fine of 30 thousand euros.
'I didn't want to use a chemical in my fields. My family has been practicing organic agriculture since 1970. It's absurd: I'm being judged for not poisoning my land,” he told Le Monde.
The farmer did not comply with an order issued last July by the region's prefect, which required all the vines of the Côte-d'Or — the department of Burgundy where Monsieur Giboulot's land is located — to use an insecticide against the leafhopper, the insect that transmits golden Flavescence. Since the 1950s in France, following national and European regulations, about 50% of wine crops have been treated against this disease.
Until now, the Côte-d'Or had not been affected by it but the neighboring department, Saône-et-Loire, is already in its third epidemic since 2011. To respond to this situation, the prefecture of Dijon, the administrative capital of the region, required the chemical fight against the leafhopper. Giboulot explains that he refused treatment also because there was no outbreak of the disease in his department (at least at the time of his choice).
