Guillaume Kasbarian, deputy (LREM) for the constituency of Chartres, visited a beet production field, this Monday, September 21, 2020, in Sours.
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The Eurelian parliamentarian was accompanied by Anne-Laurence Petel, MP (LREM) of Bouches-du-Rhône. A trip made as part of the announcement of the bill again authorizing the use of neonicotinoids to fight against beet yellows.
Beet yellows in Eure-et-Loir: losses estimated at € 1,000 per hectare
In Eure-et-Loir as in several French regions, beets linked to seeds not coated with insecticide are affected by “jaundice”. In question, an aphid vector of the disease which weakens the plants.
Various players in local agriculture were present for this meeting, such as Éric Thirouin, President of the Chamber of Agriculture of Eure-et-Loir, or Alexandre Pelé, President of the General Confederation of Beet Planters (CGB) Center-Val de Loire.
We are therefore going to have a loss of 30 to 40% compared to what we normally produce.
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They were all gathered on the Prevosteau family farm in Sours. Henri Prévosteau, farmer, presented the farm and the complicated context of the moment:
“We have a grain farm where we grow beets, potatoes, grains or corn. We also have a strawberry plantation for diversification. This year, we noticed, due to the arrival of a much stronger than usual aphid invasion, that the beets did not grow bigger. We are therefore going to have a loss of 30 to 40% compared to what we normally produce. “
The farmer explains: “Usually the beet is 700 to 800 grams, whereas now it is more like 400 to 500 grams. There is this loss in tonnage, but that’s not all. According to the samples taken by the sugar factories, the sugar level is also lower. The sugar yield per hectare therefore promises to be degraded. “
“No risk for the bees”
An alarming situation in the eyes of Alexandre Pelé: “All producers in the region are concerned by this problem of yellows on beets. 100% of the plots are affected with yield losses that can reach 40%. For 30 years, we have used an insecticide as a seed coating. This product is very effective against the aphid and saved us from spreading. “
However, neonicotinoids are harmful to the bees that come foraging. A risk dismissed by Alexandre Pelé: “Beetroot is a biennial plant which is harvested in its first year of vegetation. It produces a root then a leaf clump and is harvested before it produces flowers and pollen. There is therefore no risk for the bees. “
Farmers in Eure-et-Loir transform sugar beet into hydroalcoholic gel
The president of the CGB Center-Val de Loire adds: “The beet growers understand the expectations of society and are ready to commit to a prevention plan, that is to say first of all to reduce the dose. 25% insecticide, secondly not to plant a honey plant (plants producing good amounts of good quality nectar and pollen and accessible by bees) alongside beets and, finally, there will be also test areas in our regions to see, without insecticide, what is happening and prepare for the future. We are working on the seed precisely. We are ready to move towards resistant varieties. But in the meantime, we have sweets behind the producers and the emergency is short term. It is also an industrial sector. “
The reintroduction of these neonicotinoids, if it is approved by the National Assembly, will however be temporary. The bill provides that the exemption lasts for a maximum of three years, ie until the summer of 2023. Only beet growers would be authorized to use these neonicotinoids.
Deputy. For Guillaume Kasbarian, the bill authorizing again the use of neonicotinoids to fight against beet yellows must succeed in order to meet expectations:
“We are debating this week in committee and from October 5 in a hemicycle. Farmers have no alternative when it comes to jaundice and aphids. They explain that if they can’t use a specific product that has been banned, neonicotinoids, they won’t plant beets anymore. The consequences for sweets are the closure. It would then be necessary to bring in polluting freighters all the sugar products from the other end of the planet, with deforestation. We have a request from farmers who want a two to three year exemption that will not sink, but also to boost research. This product, neonicotinoids, avoided spreading. In addition, there is no flower on the beet, so no risk for the bees. And the law provides that if a farmer chooses the exemption, he will not have the right, the following year, to plant a plant that produces flowers. On the issue of persistence in soils, there is therefore no concern. “
The parliamentarian specifies: “We will have a technical discussion in the Assembly, so it is essential to discuss with professionals in the field. It’s going to be a real fight. The pressure from certain ideological and dogmatic people will be strong. “
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Simon Dechet
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