“It’s ecology that is killing us”: winegrower Martial Bories spoke to the council of Agglo Béziers Méditerranée

Martial Bories spoke at the Agglo council meeting this Monday, February 12, in Alignan-du-Vent. Midi Libre – M.A.

The council of Agglo Béziers Méditerranée, meeting this Monday, February 12 in Alignan-du-vent, adopted a motion of support for winegrowers. Martial Bories, president of the L'Occitane cooperative cellar, denounced the environmental standards in force. 

This Monday evening, February 12, the council of Agglo Béziers Méditerranée, meeting in a small committee in Alignan-du-Vent, adopted a motion of support for wine growers. A text read by the president of the Agglo Robert Ménard. "Overwhelmed with standards, taxes, draconian and often contradictory rules, treated with contempt by a Brussels bureaucracy, stifled by an ecology of cities which has lost all common sense, suffering from unfair competition from foreign countries not subject to the same banned, our agricultural world is dying." This motion will thus be transmitted to the representative of the State. 

"We are not poisoners"

Several representatives of the wine world had also been invited to speak before the council. Among them Martial Bories, the president of the L'Occitane cooperative cellar in Servian, one of the leaders of the demonstrations in Biterrois. The latter did not mince his words: "In this motion, what upsets me a little and which is true, is the ecology of cities. If we are in a situation of despair, it is because you elected officials have not helped us very much (…). Please know, gentlemen, that we are not poisoners. All the standards that are imposed on us, the specifications that we impose on ourselves mean that we are no longer competitive at all. The demands are simple: it’s mainly ecology that is killing us. We're not crazy, we don't kill our children. Besides, we are living older and older, our products are cleaner and cleaner…"

"What hurts me the most is when I see municipalities with "zero phyto"&quot ;

"It's a passion, viticulture, we are here to manage the rural space. Which makes me does the most harm, it's when I see the municipalities with "zero phyto"" (…) And to remember the small quantities , according to him, of glyphosate administered to the vines. "When children fall and lick the tar, it pollutes more than the glyphosate we put in the vines."&amp ;nbsp;"We are sacrificed", he believes. An applauded speech.