[Smallholder News 31 January 2015] — France has said it will cut the use of farm chemicals, including pesticides, herbicides and fungicides by 25 per cent by 2020, and by 50 per cent by 2025 as fears grow for their effects on man and the environment. Farming Minister Stéphane Le Foll launched the ambitious plan as it was revealed that many of the ‘apple a day’ that people eat can be subjected to 15 insecticide and 28 fungicide treatments before they ever reach a fruit bowl. Previous studies have also found that modern-day apples have just 1% of the vitamins A and C of the apples from 50 years ago and a tiny fraction of other essential proteins, minerals and other nutrients due to overuse of chemicals. With farm chemicals blamed for the slump in the bee population Mr Le Foll told Liberation that farms which had been pioneering new methods such as biocontrol had seen their pesticide use fall 13 per cent since 2013 when the rest of the agriculture industry saw chemical use rise 9 per cent. He said there were 2,000 of these so-called “Dephy” test farms and he wanted to increase this to 3,000 with each having 10 other farms round about that could also switch to lower chemical use. Cutting chemicals would mean smaller yield but also lower costs. Agro-chemical giants such as Bayer, Monsanto, Syngenta and others will also face financial penalties if they do not meet the target of cutting the number of chemical doses by 20 per cent in five years. They are being told to do less selling of products and more teaching of proper usage and dosage. The ambitious Ecophyto 2 plan is also aimed to protect farmers’ health after an Inserm research centre report linked pesticides with debilitating illnesses such as Parkinson’s and cancer. France is Europe’s biggest user of expensive farm chemicals and the world No3 – using up to 100,000 tonnes a year with the exact figure unknown. ${imageDescription} Commentdisplay=1&htype=0&type=mc2
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