Reading Time: < 1 minute Saint-Genes-Champanelle, France | Reuters — France will not force farmers to stop using glyphosate after a ban planned within three years, in cases where an alternative has not been found, President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday. He added that this would likely concern 10 per cent of farms while solutions could be found for the […] Read more
France says will not ban glyphosate when no alternative
Limagrain says GMO protests could force R+D relocation
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Limagrain, the world’s fourth-largest seed maker, will consider moving its research activities out of France if field trials in its home market continue to be sabotaged by opponents of genetically modified crops. The French co-operative group was targeted last month by protestors who invaded test fields southeast of Paris and scattered […] Read more
Germany swings EU vote in favour of glyphosate
Reading Time: 3 minutes Brussels | Reuters — Germany defeated its key EU ally France in a very tight vote on Monday to clear the use of glyphosate herbicide for the next five years after a heated debate over whether it causes cancer. After months of indecisive votes among the 28 member states in Brussels, Germany, whose Chancellor Angela […] Read more
French court suspends pesticides over potential harm to bees
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — A French court suspended on Friday the licence for two pesticides made by Dow Chemical, citing uncertainty over environmental risks including their effects on bees. The preliminary ruling by an administrative court in the city of Nice overturned a decision by France’s health and environment agency ANSES in September to grant […] Read more
France open to phasing out glyphosate
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — France is open to phasing out common weedkiller glyphosate, the government said on Monday, following complaints from farmers worried about a potential imminent ban. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe reiterated Paris would vote against the European Commission’s proposal to extend for 10 years the licence for glyphosate, which is used in Monsanto’s […] Read more
French farmers fume as government rejigs EU subsidies
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris / Reuters – French farm unions cried foul over a government decision on Thursday to use part of European Union direct payments linked to output to finance rural development projects such as fast growing organic farming. The decision comes just days after France launched wide debate on the future of the food sector, aiming to […] Read more
China seen set to become world’s second-biggest wine market
Reading Time: < 1 minute Paris | Reuters — China is set to overtake Britain and France to become the world’s second-largest wine consumer by value behind the U.S. by 2020 as consumers turn to more middle-range wines, the International Wine and Spirit Research (IWSR) organization said Thursday. In a study for wine fair Vinexpo it forecast Chinese wine consumption […] Read more
French MNAs take EU-Canada trade deal to court
Reading Time: < 1 minute Paris | Reuters — More than 100 French left-wing lawmakers decided Tuesday to appeal to the country’s Constitutional Council to block a contentious free trade deal between the European Union and Canada. Supporters of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) say it will boost economic growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. […] Read more
InVivo pursues co-op alliances to vie with grain, chemical giants
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — France’s InVivo wants to expand international partnerships with other co-operatives, including in joint buying of crop supplies and shipping fixtures, as it tries to compete with global grain trading and chemical firms, its CEO said on Wednesday. InVivo, a grouping of 220 agricultural co-operatives and one of the largest exporters of […] Read more
France’s Senate suspends palm oil tax, delays neonic ban
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — The French Senate on Thursday adopted a revised version of its biodiversity bill in which senators scrapped an additional tax on palm oil and delayed until 2020 a ban on pesticides blamed for harming bees. The decisions are not final as the two houses of the French parliament now have to […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
