NGOs denounce France's 'pause' on pesticide ban to placate farmers
Green groups in France have slammed the government's move to suspend its Ecophyto programme cutting down on pesticides used in agriculture as a "major step backwards". The measure was among several concessions made to farmers on Thursday as the government sought to calm more than a week of protests.
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Farmers unions called for an end to blockades after they obtained significant concessions – including an annual 150 million euros for livestock farmers and a ban on food imports treated with neonicotinoid, a pesticide already banned in France.
The government agreed to suspend "Ecophyto 2030" – part of France's plan to shift agricultural production towards the principles of agro-ecology. The plan aimed to halve the use of pesticides by 2030.
"We are going to put it on pause in order to rework a certain number of aspects and to simplify it," Agriculture Minister Marc Fesneau said.
Ecophyto needed to be put on hold in order to find a new method of measuring the molecules in pesticides used by farmers, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.
Agricultural organisations – including France's largest farming union, FNSEA – are strongly opposed to Ecophyto, which measures both the quantities and strength of pesticides used.
Threat to ecological transition
However environmental groups warned the governments concessions were at odds with France's strategy on decarbonisation, food and agricultural planning.
The suspension of Ecophyto is "a huge step backwards", said Nadine Lauverjat, of the Générations Futures non-profit.
"We've made a lot of progress over the last 15 years. Of course the Ecophyto plan had not borne the fruit we hoped concerning the initial targets of halving pesticide use, but there was nonetheless a certain dynamic and desire to reduce our dependence on pesticides," she said.
Générations Futures said the suspension of Ecophyto would not help to put more money in the pockets of farmers.
"It will enable agriculture from the last century to continue, keeping even more dangerous products on the market, and slowing down their withdrawal," spokesperson François Veillerette said.
The Echophyto plan included a €41 million farmers fund distributed by the French office for biodiversity (OFB).
"Calling this mechanism into question means no longer helping farmers in their ecological transition," said Sandrine Bélier, head of the NGO Humanity and Biodiversity.
What's at stake is both protecting biodiversity and the health of farmers' health, she added, since farmers are "the main victims of the phytosanitary products they use".
Against punitive ecology
Faced with criticism, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot defended the decision, saying that different programmes to reduce farmers' use of pesticides since 2009 had been "inefficient" given they offered farmers no other solution.
The pause, she said, was to make sure Ecophyto 2030 was understood to be in the interests of helping farmers and not punishing them.
"We have to move away from punitive ecology towards solutions-based ecology," Thevenot said.
France was investing massively in finding those solutions, she said, adding that despite big ambitions the country's commitment to ecology had to be anchored in reality.
In June last year, five French groups filed a law suit against the state for negligence in regulating the use of pesticides.
A final ruling will be handed down by the Paris administrative court on 15 June.
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