Flashlight in hand, Yann Salou monitors the development of his endives like milk on fire. In Guissény (Finistère), everything takes place in the complete darkness of the "growth chamber". In this black room at controlled temperature, the roots which have developed in the fields of Yann Salou scattered over the town give after about twenty days the beautiful white bouquets with yellow tips that we know.
"They are long and dense," appreciates the 48-year-old operator, inspecting the crates that will leave in the afternoon. This is first lady, "one of the few varieties that I can grow if I don't want hidden GMOs". Indeed, the vast majority of seeds on sale are either CMS (sterile male cytoplasm), that is to say from cell fusions with sunflowers, manipulation which aims to increase yields, or VRTH, plants - soon banned - whose genes have been mutated to make them resistant to herbicides, or both.
From the wooden shed where seasonal workers separate the roots of the precious heads, the peasant refuses to work "endives genetically hacked". It was not to plant GMOs that Yann went organic fourteen years ago - a real conviction when demand was less strong than today. “We don't grow endives like cauliflowers. It is very technical, and the transition was a nightmare in this production where we are very assisted by conventional chemistry. "
"The endive is very technical"
How to recognize a GM endive with the naked eye? Small sunglasses and khaki jacket, Marc Sire, from the Kaol Kozh farmers' seeds association (“old cabbage” in Breton), went to share the filter coffee in the windy hangar of Guissény. "A display on the CMS character would be welcome, for both consumers and producers," he says. When it is pointed out that the endive, with its culture in two stages, one in the open field, the other in the dark, does not exist in nature anyway, he retorts: "Nothing to do with technicians who play sorcerer's apprentices in the laboratory. "
"Many market gardeners are unaware that they cultivate GMOs," confirms Yann Salou. When I explain the difference to colleagues who come to visit my farm, they are surprised and quite reassured! The market gardener, now a fine connoisseur, confesses that at the time of his conversion he too was completely ignorant of CMS.
"With us, the specifications prohibit these hidden GMOs," insists Sophie Le Doussal, technical manager of BioBreizh, a cooperative to which Yann Salou adheres. To be sure that the green and brown logo is a guarantee, she monitors each new variety and demands explanations from the seed companies. When her questions remain unanswered, the young woman orders laboratory tests. “And again, these genetic techniques leave their mark. This is not the case for all of them, ”she breathes.
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