16th April 2009Although it has been pretty dry in the Loire since Christmas, there was enough rain the day before to produce this puddle in this compacted, weed-killered vineyard in Les Montils in AC Touraine. The adjoining vineyard, which belongs to the Puzelats (Domaine de Tue-Boeuf) and which is cultivated, had no standing water. It is clear that the soil of this vineyard has been compacted by heavy tractors – a tyre mark is clearly visible in the puddle – and that water cannot drain into the soil. This is another example of a disadvantage of using weedkillers especially if heavy tractors are also used.
8 comments:
Another proof of the need to stop with the herbicides!
Cultivation increases water infiltration, limits water run-off and erosion and improves the soil structure.
Herbicides increases the erosion and kill!
Yes, very telling picture.
Certainly dramatically reduce and work to stopping then use of herbicides as soon as possible.
It appears that cultivation brings its own problems but that is a separate debate. A diversity of plants in the vineyard may well be the answer.
It would be interesting to know what percentage of the vines in Saint-Georges-sur-Cher use herbicides over the whole surface. From observation the percentage would appear to be very high. I'm sure that many other communes viticoles have a similarly high proportion both in the Loire and elsewhere.
Palmares of the wine regions using herbicides as the only mean of weed management (in percentage of the whole area):
Champagne: 97%
Beaujolais: 96%
Languedoc-Roussillon: 92%
Val de Loire: 91%
Bordelais: 89%
Alsace: 87%
Bourgogne & Provence: 79%
(2006 numbers courtesy of Le rouge & Le Blanc, Spring 2009)
Also note that the herbicide used in 70% of these cases is Glyphosate, which was until 2000 exclusively produced by Monsanto under the brand ROUNDUP...
Should I remind you that in the 1960s and 1970s, Monsanto was the leading producer of Agent Orange for US Military operations in Vietnam...
Laurent. Many thanks for these details.
Jim,
Might that be the old tyre print of a picking machine ? These are of course considerably heavier than your everyday tractors.
You could be right. Whatever the vehicle or vehicles used the ground there is now compacted and the water is not draining away.
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