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After the beet producers, it is the cereal growers who must review their cultivation model. Indeed, the herbicide they use, S-metolachlor, should soon be banned. The Health Safety Agency (ANSES) points out the risks of groundwater contamination with an impact on the quality of drinking water.
In a month and a half, Freddy Chauvin will sow 46 hectares of corn in Saujon (Charentes-Maritimes). He will add one kilo of herbicide per hectare. But soon, he will have to do without a powerful herbicide: S-metolachlor. Indeed, for the Health Security Agency (Anses), this product penetrates into the ground, then into groundwater. “In 2021, it was detected in all surface waters and in more than 30% of water made drinkable to standards higher than potability”explains Arnaud Clugery, of the association Eau et Rivières de Bretagne.
Mechanical weeding, a viable solution?
To replace it, you will need another herbicide, or mechanical weeding. But “some of the farmers will not have a weeder, a rotary hoe or a weeder harrow to ensure weeding”, according to Xavier Reboud, research director in agroecology at Inrae. Cereal farmers still have a year to find a solution other than S-metolachlor.
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