MAP. The most organic municipality in Aveyron is right next to the one that uses the most pesticides… And yours ?

Aveyron is in the green when it comes to the use of phytosanitary products, with one exception. Screenshot – Solagro

Municipality by municipality, this map reveals the frequency index of phytosanitary treatments, the number of useful agricultural hectares, its share of organic crops, the main crop and the crop for which pesticides are used.

Solagro is an association that promotes economical, supportive and sustainable natural resource management practices and processes in the fields of energy, the environment, forests and agriculture.

Concerning agriculture, Solagro has published since 2020 a map of France, last updated on August 31, 2023, on the frequency of pesticide use, municipality by municipality, by classifying this use by an IFT, for phytosanitary “use frequency index”.

For each municipality, the association noted this Index, as well as the useful agricultural area (UAA), its share in relation to the surface area of ​​the municipality, the main crop of the municipality and the crop for which pesticides are used.

We thus learn that for Rodez, this index is 0.32 (green), that the useful agricultural area is still 164 hectares (down), or 15% of the territory, essentially composed of meadows, and that the crop for which the phytosanitary products are used concerns winter barley, a fodder plant, but which is also used to make… beer.

Aveyron in the green, or almost

According to the frequency rate of use of herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and others, Aveyron uses phytosanitary products very moderately in all its municipalities… except one. Known for its orchards, the municipality of Paulhe and its approximately 180 hectares of useful agricultural land (approximately a third of the municipality) displays an IFT index of 6.62 for the use of herbicides and 6.88 for all phytosanitary products, sufficient to place it in the red among the municipalities displaying the highest rate of use of these products. But it should be put into perspective, since this highest rate in red is between 5.24 and 21.56.

The share of organic farming

As for organic farming, as everywhere in France, it still has to gain territories. With 78% of organic farming in its useful agricultural area (691 hectares), it is the commune of La Cresse which is the most organic commune in Aveyron. It also has the particularity of being close to that of Paulhe, departmental champion of the use of phytosanitary products…

Other municipalities such as Millau or L'Hospitalet du Larzac exceed 50% of organic surfaces, but this figure is misleading since this UAA takes into account meadows and pastoral surfaces.

And in your municipality ?

To find out what's happening near you, consult this interactive map here.