EXCERPT: The couple claim they are the victim of a long-running campaign by jealous neighbouring farmers and have suffered a spate of attacks over the past five years - from cattle deliberately freed onto their land and fields flooded to the destruction of fruit stalls. The fact that they are organic was a key factor, said Mrs Arlaud.
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Plight of organic farmer 'poisoned' in Provence pesticide attack becomes cause célèbre in France
By Henry Samuel
The Telegraph, 22 Aug 2020
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/08/22/plight-organic-farmer-poisoned-provence-pesticide-attack-becomes/
* Organic farmer poisoned after intruders dowse his vegetables with pesticides strikes national chord amid debate over intensive agriculture
An organic farmer in Provence who claims he was poisoned by jealous neighbours with pesticides they poured onto his vegetables has become a cause célèbre in France, which is facing a growing backlash against intensive agriculture.
For Tristan and Oriane Arlaud, 46 and 37, it was a dream come true.
The married couple dropped their urban jobs as restaurateur and psychologist over a decade ago to become organic farmers outside the picturesque village of Puy-Sainte-Réparade near Aix-en-Provence, southern France.
Their business, Les Jardins de Paradis (Gardens of Paradise), has since flourished, with the couple teaming up with other local producers to provide around 200 families with organic fruit and vegetables, along with bread, eggs, cheese and poultry.
However, in July, disaster struck when their greenhouses were attacked by intruders who slashed their plants with secateurs.
After spending hours seeking to save his prized tomatoes, peppers and courgettes, and consuming some, Mr Arlaud fell unexpectedly sick and was hospitalised, losing seven kilogrammes in four days.
Upon examination, it turns out the plants were sprayed with vast quantities of glyphosate, the world’s best-selling weedkiller, which the World Health Organisation has dubbed “probably carcinogenic” and which faces a European ban in 2022.
He has not returned to work and still has difficulty breathing.
“To be frank, he’s scared. We don’t know what the long-term physical consequences are unknown,” Mrs Arlaud told the Telegraph.
The couple claim they are the victim of a long-running campaign by jealous neighbouring farmers and have suffered a spate of attacks over the past five years - from cattle deliberately freed onto their land and fields flooded to the destruction of fruit stalls.
The fact that they are organic was a key factor, said Mrs Arlaud.
“We came in for a lot of mockery with some locals saying organic farming doesn’t exist or isn’t serious. Some couldn't take seeing us starting from scratch and succeeding and lost the plot.”
After each incident, they filed a complaint with the local gendarmes. Yet despite the fact that in some cases the couple even photographed the alleged culprits, who made no secret they were responsible, no-one was prosecuted.
“Local authorities clearly didn’t want to make waves and hoped it would all die down, which these people saw as carte blanche to keep going. This time, they clearly thought they’d finish the farm off and us along with it,” she said.
However, the pair refuse to throw in the trowel. They have since contacted a lawyer and local media covered the attack, propelling them onto the national stage.
Local mayor Jean-David Ciot said he supported their action following the "scandalous" attack.
A request for €5,000 (£4,500) in emergency aid via crowd-funding has gone ballistic with donations now having exceeded €60,000.
“It’s been extraordinary. We’ve been flooded with messages of support from people saying we must keep going,” said Mrs Arlaud.
She said the reason for such support was because France had reached a “critical juncture” between “two opposing models”.
“One is very industrial, competitive and focused on exports. That is the one held up as the model to follow. "The other is of smaller, human-scale farming that is respectful of people, animals and the surrounding environment. The idea is that everyone can make ends meet thought the ecosystem. It’s another set of values,” she said.
The weapon the local assailants used was “no coincidence”, she added.
“They could have ruined our business by simply chopping down our tomato plants or ramming them with a tractor. Instead, they chose to pour pesticides over them.”
In 2008, France pledged to halve pesticide use in a decade. Instead, it has gone up by 25 per cent, even if some of the most dangerous agents have been phased out. A fifth is used on vineyards. Some accuse the country's most powerful farming union, FNSEA, of being in sway of the pesticide lobby.
France, meanwhile, hopes to double the amount of organic farming to 15 per cent of crops by 2022.
Organic land area in France grew by 16.7 per cent in 2018, the world’s biggest increase for a single year, bringing France second only to Spain in Europe.
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