The UFH pleads for the authorization of agricultural spreading by helicopter
Helicopter Union (UFH) follows in the footsteps of the powerful FNSEA, which at the Agriculture Fair affirms that agricultural production cannot completely do without phytopharmaceutical treatment.
Since 2011, the spreading of phytosanitary products by helicopter is prohibited in France, except in special cases. And it is precisely on the management of the exemptions granted by the prefectures that the UFH member helicopter professionals would like the criteria to be specified. Currently, the prefects have all the powers and from one prefect to another, the approach to the problem sometimes varies radically. The UFH cites for example the case of a rice field in the Camargue, straddling two departments. While one of the two prefects had issued a waiver to authorize treatment by helicopter, the other refused.
At the agricultural fair, the FNSEA recalled that the farmers were ready to commit to precise control of the areas to be targeted and product dosages. An opportunity for the UFH to affirm “ that the helicopter can treat a plot to the nearest meter 8 times faster and with 5 times less products than by land. “
