Pratiques phytosanitaires en agriculture et environnement : des tensions irréductibles ?

La vulnérabilité croissante des ressources en eau et des milieux aquatiques aux pollutions a conduit au développement de dispositifs agri-environnementaux chargés en particulier de réduire et d’encadrer l’utilisation des pesticides (le plus récent étant le plan Ecophyto 2018 issu du Grenelle de l’environnement). Cette contribution analyse la tension entre les contraintes agricoles qui conditionnent les changements de pratiques phytosanitaires et les exigences environnementales désormais posées en termes d’obtention de résultats. L’observation d’un dispositif expérimental de diffusion de " pratiques améliorées " de traitement phytosanitaire, inscrit dans le Groupe d’action phytosanitaire de Midi-Pyrénées (Gramip), est mobilisée pour interroger, à partir d’une approche interdisciplinaire (économie, sociologie, agronomie), la permanence de logiques agricoles technico-économiques et l’émergence d’arguments sanitaires et commerciaux comme facteurs potentiels de diffusion de pratiques alternatives à l’utilisation des pesticides en agriculture. / The increasing vulnerability of water resources and aquatic pollution has led to the development of agrienvironmental tools in particular to reduce and control the use of pesticides. This paper explores the tension between the constraints that affect changes of phytosanitary practices and environmental requirements now posed in terms of environmental results. The observation of an experimental policy instrument of "better practices" in Midi-Pyrenees (Gramip), is mobilized to examine, from an interdisciplinary approach (economics, sociology, agronomy), the permanence of agricultural techno-economic logic and the emergence of health and commercial factors as potential diffusion of alternative practices to the use of pesticides in agriculture

Energy analysis of organic crop systems. Impact of intensification level.

This study reveals a wide variability in the major parameters of the energy analysis applied to 44 four-year-long organic crop sequences. The intensification level of the systems in terms of the use or nonuse of organic fertilisation on cereals and of irrigation on summer crops (mainly pulses) is largely responsible for this variability. Average energy consumption ranges from 5 000 to 12 270 MJ/ha/year depending on the intensification level. Energy production varies from 35 500 to 43 950 MJ/ha/year. Since energy consumption and production both vary in the same direction with the degree of intensification, the energy gain is stable at an average value of 29300 MJ/ha/year. Energy efficiency decreases from 7.1 MJ/MJ for unfertilised and unirrigated crop sequences, to 3.5 MJ/MJ for fertilised and irrigated sequences, where soy and faba bean are among the major crops

Private Transaction Costs and Environmental Cross Compliance In a Crop Region of South-western France

The 2003 review of the common agricultural policy (CAP) has introduced several new policy tools, among which is cross compliance. The introduction of this new policy entails production costs, along with other types of costs arising at the farm level: administrative, information and organizational costs, called transaction costs. The purpose of this paper is to determine the nature of transaction costs and to assess them. A survey conducted in 2006 among a sample of 39 farmers followed by a descriptive statistical analysis (multiple correspondence analysis, MCA) permits to associate farmer profiles with different levels of incurred transaction costs. These profiles reveal the impact which the farmers' responsibilities (professional networks) and the role of voluntary commitments previously undertaken may have on the nature and importance of transaction costs. This paper opens up new perspectives on the adoption criteria that should be taken into account in the evolution of agri environmental regulations