Bordeaux sees useage of toxins in vineyards drop by 20%
It is now ten years since Bordeaux began to make a concerted attempt to reduce the use of toxins in vineyards and improve the area’s environmental profile.
In a decade the number of untreated vineyards has jumped by 85%, while the use of carcinogenic and toxix substances has fallen by over 20%. At the same time the use of older, less toxic substances has remained stable or risen. The use of copper, for example, used against mildew, has remained stable, while sulphur usage is up by around 30%.
However, the wider Gironde region is one of the country’s most prolific pesticide consumers, according to French NGO Future Generations. But according to the CIVB, the pesticide usage figures, while accurate, were misleading since they cover the agricultural sector in its entirety, and not just vineyards. Focusing only on Bordeaux’s vineyards gives a brighter picture.
CIVB president Allan Sichel said that measuring pesticide usage by weight rather than treatment frequency is also problematic. This is because the older less toxic products such as copper and sulphur are often heavier than newer more toxic ones.
“So basically what we want to do is increase usage of the good stuff and reduce CMR (carcinogenic, mutagenic reprotoxic) substances,” he said, speaking at the Wine Environment Forum last week.