Urban dwellers who are somewhat cut off from nature are unaware of it, but the law pushes “vice” to the point of regulating… the trimming of hedges. At least for farmers and professionals who are not normally allowed to prune between March 15 and August 15. Too bad if some people cry discrimination against individuals or excesses of standards, it is an evil for a good: do not disturb the nesting of birds, mistreated in recent decades by intensive agriculture and climatic changes .
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We do not know if this is the result of the recent uprising by farmers against certain environmental standards, but the government, which also strongly encourages the planting of hedges that are good for biodiversity and the climate, this year granted exemptions and a deadline for 'one month to trim hedges, that is to say until April 16 inclusive. In the Eure, they owe it to the heavy rains in winter which disrupted the agricultural calendar. Individuals are also encouraged not to touch the hedges but without obligation, which has the gift of arousing the anger of farmers, who are threatened with severe repression from the French Biodiversity Office in the event of of transgression.
This year, the weather has clearly changed things. “A large part of the agricultural plots in the department remained impassable for several consecutive weeks, making numerous agricultural work impossible and, in particular, the maintenance of hedges, between the months of December and February,” recalls the prefecture of the department. Eure. This extra month, until April 16, will not have been too much as the weather remained very rainy in Eure. Be careful though, operators are invited to ensure “compliance with environmental regulations linked to protected species”, warns the prefecture.
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The measure described as “common sense” was welcomed by farmers in the Eure department. “The date of March 15 was inapplicable anyway since we were unable to work this winter. It was important that the State concretely materializes an adaptation of the agricultural calendar,” summarized Gilles Lievins, president of the Eure Chamber of Agriculture, on the sidelines of the Neubourg agricultural show, on March 17. There are only a fortnight left to take care of the hedges.