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Argadens and the DEPHY challenge

During the month of February 2019, Jérôme and Fabien played host to their fellow viticulturalists in the DEPHY FERME group, of which they have been members for 3 years.

Set up in 2010 under the Ecophyto* plan, today the DEPHY network is made up of more than 3,000 farmers voluntarily committed to reducing the use of phytosanitary products, and some 200 experimental sites where low-phytosanitary farming practices and systems are tested.

For Fabien, “the DEPHY network allows us to talk with other winegrowers who use different farming methods about problems we have in common, but also to compare practices and discover others. That enables us to ask ourselves the right questions, get back to fundamentals and increase our autonomy”.

An agronomist from the Gironde Chamber of Agriculture is in charge of managing and organising the group’s activities. At each meeting or visit, external speakers contribute their know-how or experience as researchers, materials producers or farmers.

*The Écophyto plan is aimed at reducing the use of phytosanitary products (commonly called pesticides) in France while keeping farming economically efficient.