The carrots in the sandy lands of Créances should no longer contain dichloropropene.
Eight vegetable farms and their three intermediaries were sentenced Wednesday in correctional custody in Coutances (Manche) to fines of 10,000 to 80,000 euros for trafficking 132 tonnes of this prohibited pesticide imported from Spain.
"It is an indicator of the place of chemistry in society and the difficulty of doing without it when you are addicted", had estimated the prosecutor of the Republic of Coutances, Cyril Lacombe, during the hearing on 21 may.
100 tonnes spread between February 2018 and November 2020
The magistrate then requested penalties ranging from 8,000 to 100,000 euros against market gardeners accused of possession and / or use of dichloropropene, a product classified as probable carcinogen used for decades by carrot producers in Créances (Manche) and the surrounding area. , before it was banned in France in 2018. Almost 100 tonnes were spread there between February 2018 and November 2020.
The intermediary who ordered the products in Spain is sentenced to 80,000 euros in fines, including 30,000 suspended.
The man who grouped the orders is fined 60,000 euros, including 30,000 suspended.
And the agricultural works company which spread the product at night and made false pruning invoices is sentenced to a fine of 20,000 euros, 10,000 of which suspended.
"It is an important decision which could set a precedent", commented Annick Briand, who represented the Confédération paysanne, civil party.
This pesticide was used against a parasitic worm which grows on sandy soils such as those which made the reputation of Créances carrots.
Read also The cry of alert from the carrot producers of Créances
"The industry knew that the exemptions would not last", had testified during the hearing the deputy LREM of the Channel Stéphane Travert, former Minister of Agriculture (2017-2018).
The defendants "should have started to anticipate in 2009" when the use of this product became possible in the European Union only by exemption, had estimated Ms. Briand during the trial.
Farmers would have died
“When I moved to Lingreville”, a town near Créances, “there were a lot of widows.
The men were dead from this product, ”added the organic market gardener.
She then accused the FNSEA of "putting pressure at European level" so that this product can still be used.
In a statement released on the sidelines of the trial, the Channel FDSEA criticized the “arbitrary suppression, for three years, of adequate treatment”.
Exemptions from the use of dichloropropene continue to be granted to Spain, Italy, Portugal and Cyprus, the Peasant Confederation said.