As consultants, we should actually welcome every change in the law. New laws create uncertainty for companies, at least temporarily, which increases the demand for tailor-made consulting services. Our job remains relevant. Nevertheless, bureaucracy is running rampant, and it’s easy to lose faith.
Winemakers in Austria and Germany are now prohibited from using commercially available baking powder to protect grapevines from powdery mildew. This is a fungal infection that can damage the harvest. What can I say? Baking powder is actually a dream come true for any environmentalist. It is inexpensive and completely harmless to soil and the environment.
From now on, however, a newly approved plant protection product must be used, which is about six times more expensive than the baking powder used previously. With the newly approved plant protection product, the basic substance approval for sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking powder) for use in viticulture has expired. However, this only applies in Germany and Austria, where the manufacturer has applied for approval for its new product.
The manufacturer of the new product seems somewhat perplexed by the resulting ban. However, I do not buy into the feigned ignorance.
The Schwäbische Zeitung newspaper has published a more detailed article, which I am happy to link to here.
I have no intention of calling for a boycott here. But I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I don’t want to hurt the struggling winegrowers, but I would avoid wine from Germany and Austria until this nonsense stops. The raw material licence for baking powder must, of course, be granted immediately. What kind of world are we living in? O tempora, o mores!