• The Bordeaux interprofession considers that the use by organic viticulture of copper explains the increase in the annual volumes of declared pesticides.

  • The regional federation of organic agriculture is moved by highlighting controls on the part of certifying bodies and sees a diversion from the use of the most dangerous pesticides (CMR) by conventional viticulture.

  • If the consumption of organic wine is marking time in supermarkets, it is related to exceptional growth during the health crisis.

It's a strange support for organic viticulture... Asked by

20 Minutes

on the occasion of the presentation to the press of Bordeaux celebrates wine, Bernard Farges, director of the interprofessional council of Bordeaux wines (CIVB) welcomes the growth of organic, whose share has almost doubled in four years in Bordeaux.

But, questioned on the reasons which explain, at the same time, the increase in the annual tonnages of pesticides used in the vines, he attributes it to organic viticulture which he describes as greedy in copper, a natural pesticide.

Copper pointed out

“As soon as there are more organic winegrowers, and more professionals who carry out part of their treatments organically, then there is more consumption of products, he explains.

A synthetic product is used at a low dose, while organic products are used at a higher dose.

The more organic we have, the more tonnage we will have and that is good news.

“A statement that makes the regional federation of organic agriculture of New Aquitaine jump.

“Winegrowers who are conventional also use it and sometimes they don't know how to use it, retorts Sylvie Dulong, its president.

They use it less often but in higher doses and, while organic winegrowers are checked by their certifying bodies on the doses applied, conventional ones are not”.

Copper is a naturally occurring fungicide that is frequently used by winegrowers in various forms, including Bordeaux mixture.

“We mix synthetic chemical pesticides with recognized toxicities on both human health and living organisms with products that are natural (but require good practices of course), is indignant Sylvie Dulong.

Let's talk about the dangerousness of the products!

If copper, classified as a pesticide, is used in organic farming, the most dangerous pesticides (classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic CMR) are prohibited there.

“The CMRs inside the pesticides represent less than 10% from now on, defends Bernard Farges.

In Gironde, the use of these CMRs is collapsing.

»

"The consumption of organic wine is marking time in supermarkets"

And the interprofession also says it wonders about the consumer's appetite for organic wine.

"Today we are worried about a glass ceiling of 20/25% for the organic production market", points out Bernard Farges.

Will the stagnation observed in milk and market gardening also be found in wine?

“Yes, there is a drop in demand in mass distribution (which has reduced its organic shelves), but this is in comparison with figures for 2019, before the pandemic therefore, during which there was a great enthusiasm for products. bios”, specifies Sylvie Dulong, who underlines that the demand for organic wine among wine merchants is not drying up.

In Bordeaux, the divisions between conventional and organic viticulture seem to be exacerbated.

“In the Rhone, Bergeracois and Loire valleys, the inter-professional organizations have bet on organic and have ensured that viticulture is recognized at its fair value, without devaluing what is not organic”, remarks Sylvie Dulong. .

For her, the model of wine estates with large areas wanted by the Bordeaux interprofession does not facilitate conversions.

And, the great vintages, which could have been the locomotives of this transition, are in the hands of large financial groups which do not want to take risks.

“The organic pioneers are small family estates,” recalls the president of the federation. 

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