Forty farmers and almost as many residents debated pesticides this Monday evening in La Rochelle as part of an unprecedented mediation in Charente-Maritime.
Nearly three hours of discussions “listening and respectful”, according to the participants, made it possible to highlight everyone's positions and expectations.
“The dialogue was established without difficulty.
People got to know each other.
We are very satisfied”, assures Marc Maigné, the elected official in charge of environmental health policies with the La Rochelle Agglomeration.
Same satisfaction for Cédric Tranquard, the president of the Charente-Maritime chamber of agriculture present during this first meeting.
“It went well, 80% of problems can be solved through communication and dialogue.
“The remaining 20%, however, aggregate all the fears of the populations and touch on “the dangerousness of phytosanitary products”, recognizes Cédric Tranquard.
“Dangerous according to local residents who do not know these products”, he specifies.
Read alsoPesticides: what if the risks of exposure were underestimated?
Anthony Pacreau belongs to the college of local residents.
This 40-year-old living in Montroy – one of the five municipalities concerned by this mediation with Saint-Rogatien, Bourgneuf, Clavette and Périgny – also appreciated these “peaceful” exchanges and found “the experience very interesting”.
His position ?
“Less pesticides and less exposure to risks”, he summarizes, before adding: “The farmer is my neighbour, not my enemy.
»
However, Anthony Pacreau noted positions that are difficult to reconcile: "It will be complicated to change practices and behaviors..." A forty-year-old mother living in Bourgneuf, for her part, regrets the absence of experts invited to lay the foundations for a “common language”, nor even of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of New Aquitaine.
“Mediation should not only appease the discourse.
These are not neighborhood issues, but public health issues, ”she recalls.
An app to know the dates of spraying?
MEP and member of EELV, Benoît Biteau draws a similar observation: “We let the Chamber of Agriculture unfold its arguments without adversity, mediation may seem relevant but it is locked in reality!
" Invited at the last minute, he could not free himself on Monday to attend these exchanges and denounces in a press release " the opacity which surrounds [this] initiative ".
The La Rochelle Agglomeration believes that the Avenir Santé Environnement association – opposed to pesticides – ensures the contradictory.
A new meeting has already been scheduled for March 7.
Measures could follow, advances the Agglomeration of La Rochelle.
"There are ideas, tracks, abounds Cédric Tranquard" by evoking the creation of an application on smartphone, to know the dates and places of spraying, or even the planting of new hedges.