Global Courant
The affected producers will ask Governor Oscar Herrera Ahuad to veto the article that sets the total replacement of the herbicide within two years.
The rural entities of Misiones will go to court if the Government of Misiones does not reverse the law that establishes the total elimination of the use of glyphosate by mid-2025 in the province. Forestry producers, ranchers, yerbateros, tea makers and other rural activities exposed their objections to the norm that was sanctioned last week with the negative vote of a few opposition legislators.
The entities that reached the headquarters of the Sociedad Rural de Misiones, in Posadas, announced that they will ask Governor Oscar Herrera Ahuad to veto the article that sets the total replacement of glyphosate with other more environmentally friendly products within two years. And in parallel they will advance with an action of unconstitutionality of the law before the Federal Justice because the Government of Misiones promotes the use of a product that did not even initiate registration procedures before SENASA, they warned.
On the fight Misiones producers willing to prosecute the ban on the use of glyphosate.
The producers also did not rule out holding mobilizations on the routes to express their discontent over a decision that they considered without consultation and without scientific support by entities such as INTA or SENASA.
The president of the Federation of Rural Associations of Misiones (FARM), Darío Bruera, warned that the enactment of the law “I take it as a persecution of producers” and added that since the sanctioned norm does not prohibit the commercialization of glyphosate, but the use “this is going to be a hunt for producers” when the non-use of the herbicide goes into effect.
The producers agreed that the Government of Misiones seeks to impose a product for which there is no information or other data that shows its effectiveness in controlling weeds. Darío Stevens, from the Papel Misionero company, maintained that the alternative to the use of glyphosate proposed by the provincial government “is not viable” but made it clear that “it is good to look for something more environmentally friendly, but we are going to achieve it in two years,” he wondered.
An agronomist who joined the call did not doubt that the initiative “is a government business with its friends. This is going to force us to go back in time, to go back to using the harrow and the plow” to contain the advance of weeds.
Alfredo Gruber, an agricultural and forestry producer complained because “they want to make us incorporate a product without certification, without having tried it before. We all want to take care of the environment, but imposing something like this on ourselves, in this way, is from an authoritarian government, which tramples on the people, ”he shot.
“We are not a tiny group and less rented by Monsanto,” said Adrián Luna Vázquez, from CRA, and asked “to unite against this capricious imposition by ideology and which leaves science aside.” The leader maintained that “there are organisms that decide which phytosanitary products can be used. Therefore, they do not want to impose a product that is not approved by SENASA”. And he asked “not to give up.”
Miguel Godina was another of the leaders who was upset with the enactment of the law. “We do not know the replacement product and if in two years there will be the necessary amount, if it is a good option” instead of glyphosate.
On the fight Misiones producers willing to prosecute the ban on the use of glyphosate.
Federico Aman came from Andresito and said that “being a guinea pig doesn’t bother me, but that it is voluntary and not imposed. We are concerned about this situation, ”he warned.
The rancher Pablo Cáceres did not hesitate to describe the initiative as “a gig” and called for unity to reverse the prohibition that worries all ruralists in the province. It is that they consider that the prohibition could considerably raise production costs and leave them out of the market.
For their part, the representatives of the Chamber of Agricultural Health and Fertilizers (CASAFE) recalled that glyphosate is a product with low toxicity and that there is a lot of myth surrounding this herbicide that is used in more than 160 countries.
Former INTA official Valentín Kurtz, one of the pioneers in trials with glyphosate in Misiones, said that “it is worrying that the deputies have not previously consulted the producers, INTA, and the universities” and said that the herbicide “used in its adequate doses it is appropriate”.
The anger of the Misiones producers was evidenced by the unconsulted advance of the deputies from Misiones. And they also targeted the president of the Legislature and cacique of the Renovation Front, Carlos Rovira, who on Wednesday redoubled the bet and maintained that the sanctioned regulation had only “mild criticism from the central country, of course, rented by Monsanto and the big brands that they send the sealed package and tell them that they must speak ill of everything that is different, such as bio-inputs”.
