Europe extends the use of copper in organic farming

The European Union will extend the use of copper, used as a pesticide in certified organic farming, for seven years, despite warnings from the European Food Safety Agency. However, it organizes a gradual exit.

In one year, the temporary authorization to use copper sulphate in European organic farming was coming to an end. This material, cut with lime, is often used as a bactericide and fungicide throughout the continent by farmers who refuse the use of chemical pesticides. This mixture is used mainly in viticulture, the cultivation of potatoes and apples to fight against the ravages of a fungus, mildew.

The Commission considers that this extension "improves the protection of the environment by limiting application rates, while maintaining an important tool for crop protection". However, some European countries (including the Netherlands and Denmark) called for its ban on the "Bordeaux mull", preferring alternative methods.

The extension, decided Tuesday, however, reduces by about a third the threshold currently set – or 4kg per hectare per year with the possibility of smoothing in case of adverse year. And for good reason: the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) had highlighted the risks for soil pollution. According to studies, copper sulphate has adverse effects on the growth and development of most plants, microbial communities and soil fauna.

In 2008, ANSES, the French health safety agency, issued an opinion proposing to limit its use. Also, the European executive has at the same time called Efsa to "develop a more appropriate methodology for the assessment of environmental risks, so that it is available for the next renewal of the authorization". It should also make it possible to identify the possible financing necessary for the coming transition.

"If Europe had sliced ​​for 4 kg per year without smoothing, the sector would have been in great difficulty to tackle years with high pressure blight where copper needs are higher. Now it will be necessary to accompany the producers to allow them to succeed their harvest with these new reduced doses "reacted Jacques Carroget, organic winemaker in Pays-de-la-Loire and national secretary of the FNAB viticulture.

It should be noted that several natural products with biocidal capacity and / or natural stimulator of plant defense (among which some essential oils, in particular of orange), although they are less effective. Studies are currently examining the possibility of combining them to find a lasting solution.