http://www.completefrance.com August 2019 French Property News 89GET IN TOUCH!
If you have any ‘rural riddles’ for Jeremy, contact him either by email:
[email protected], or via letters sent to the FPN offices.
Jeremy Hobson is a France-based writer who specialises in all country matters
j-c-jeremy-hobson.co.ukWhenever we holiday in France (at least once a year), we find few
signed footpaths but, on the occasions when we walk our two
Norfolk terriers on farm tracks and around the perimeters of
vineyards, we are never challenged by anyone if we are seen. How
different to England where, even when we stay on the footpaths,
many are overgrown and it is impossible to see the imprint of a path
over fields growing cereal crops! How can two countries so close to
one another be so different?!
Fiona HaywoodLike you, in France, I walk with our dog in places where I probably
shouldn’t – and only ever receive a friendly wave from anyone out in the
vines or on a tractor. But, in answer to your question, there is some
legislation common to both the UK and France.
To obtain certain EU grants/direct payments, farmers in either
country must, as far as I understand it (and don’t forget I’m only a
layman in such matters), stick to certain rules. This requirement is
known as ‘cross-compliance’ and is far-ranging. It may, for instance,
appertain to food safety, animal and plant health, the protection of
water sources and the environment. If farmers don’t comply, their
grants/payments may be reduced.
Regarding designated footpaths across cereal fields, farmers/
landowners must, once the fields are ploughed, ‘make good’ within a
certain period of time, and then make the footpath obvious (usually by
the use of tractor/quad-bike tracks or a herbicide spray).In the May issue of FPN, I answered a rural riddle from Robert and Jo
Jessop who asked how vines in French wine-making regions could
survive hot summers without the need for water and then, by complete
contrast, in the June issue, I mentioned how the severe flooding in the
Languedoc over the winter of 2018/19 could possibly affect this
season’s grape harvest.
As a result, Alistair Wood emailed to say that, when he first moved
to France almost 30 years ago, the viticulteurs around him used to
build bonfires and use large outdoor candles to keep the frost off the
vines as new growth emerged in the spring, but that nowadays, they
use machines towed behind tractors to keep the air temperature above
freezing. Known as ‘Frostbusters’, these machines are apparently made
by a Belgium company and work using calor gas. According to Alistair,
a “powerful fan is driven by the PTO [power take-off shaft] of the
tractor. A gas burner heats the air up to 80-85°C. The heated air is
blown between the trees through two outlets [and] by controlling the
ice forming and by recuperating the energy that is liberated when
vapour changes into ice, it provides an excellent protection with a
minimum input of energy”.On the right track?
A load of hot air
You take the high road... Footpaths across
cereal crops must be made obvious
A load of hot air! Calor gas-powered
machinery is used to protect vines from frostTrim and proper
Bearing in mind Fiona Haywood’s pertinent query above, it might
well be worth mentioning another instance of ‘cross-compliance’.
Social media savvy readers will no doubt have seen, on Twitter
and Facebook, the uproar regarding the netting of trees and hedges
in the UK earlier this year whereby some councils, builders and one
particular supermarket, attempted to prevent birds from nesting or
even landing in the branches. Their reasoning was that the birds
caused problems.
Following on from that there is, in both Britain and France – and in
the context of cross-compliance requirements regarding ‘good
agricultural and environmental conditions’ (introduced by Regulation
of the European Parliament and of the Council No 1306/2013 in
December 2013) – a “prohibition of trimming hedges and trees during
the breeding and nesting period of birds”.
In France that period has been decreed as being between 1 April
and 31 July. So, just when you thought you had an excuse not to
trim your hedges and instead enjoy another glass of wine on the
terrace, it seems that it’s now time to get out the hedge-trimmers
and shears and get back to work!©NottsExaminer/Wikimedia CommonsA hedge sparrow’s nest – protected
by EU cross-compliance rulings