Handbook for designing & managing Agroforestry mixing fruits & vegetables

This 40-pages handbook intends to point out the main decisive aspects to have in mind when creating and designing a diversified agroforestry system : which marketing channels, which competencies, which working capacity and organization... Farmers experiences and feedbacks provide an additional value to this practical guide

Vertical project : designing fruit agroforestry systems for a renewed horticulture

Although it's addressing multiple issues for modern farming, agroforestry mixing fruit trees and annual crops (mainly vegetables) has not been so well documented under temperate climate. One expected amenity of agroforestry is to increase biodiversity and natural pest regulation within the plot. While fruit trees are among the crops that rely most on plant protection products, we made the hypothesis that introduction of annual crops in the perennial system can lead to effective biocontrol and to input reduction, while developing other synergies between crops (shadow beneficial effects, water limitation, ….) or social amenities. On two locations (Durette/TAB) in southern France, with different characteristics (crop rotation, marketing, surface...), the partners of a 6-years funded project called Vertical, designed in 2012 and 2013 innovative cropping systems addressing those specific constraints, in order to optimize their global performance. These systems have been implemented in 2013 and 2014. Sustainability indicators have been discussed and selected to (i) monitor and (ii) to assess these systems. An ex ante assessment tool has been developed under a participatory approach, to stimulate the co-design of new performant plots. This tool will shortly be adapted to ex-post assessment, so that advisors but also farmers dealing with fruit agroforestry systems can identify their main bottlenecks and assets. A link to the national bottom-up network of fruit agroforestry systems (called Smart) will be achieved this way

Vertical project : designing fruit agroforestry systems for a renewed horticulture

Although it's addressing multiple issues for modern farming, agroforestry mixing fruit trees and annual crops (mainly vegetables) has not been so well documented under temperate climate. One expected amenity of agroforestry is to increase biodiversity and natural pest regulation within the plot. While fruit trees are among the crops that rely most on plant protection products, we made the hypothesis that introduction of annual crops in the perennial system can lead to effective biocontrol and to input reduction, while developing other synergies between crops (shadow beneficial effects, water limitation, ….) or social amenities. On two locations (Durette/TAB) in southern France, with different characteristics (crop rotation, marketing, surface...), the partners of a 6-years funded project called Vertical, designed in 2012 and 2013 innovative cropping systems addressing those specific constraints, in order to optimize their global performance. These systems have been implemented in 2013 and 2014. Sustainability indicators have been discussed and selected to (i) monitor and (ii) to assess these systems. An ex ante assessment tool has been developed under a participatory approach, to stimulate the co-design of new performant plots. This tool will shortly be adapted to ex-post assessment, so that advisors but also farmers dealing with fruit agroforestry systems can identify their main bottlenecks and assets. A link to the national bottom-up network of fruit agroforestry systems (called Smart) will be achieved this way

KNOWING, CHARACTERIZING AND ASSESSING SYSTEMS OF ORGANIC CROP ROTATIONS

The choice of crop rotations in organic stockless cropping systems is the first leverage used to manage technical issues (to maintain soil fertility, to control pest and weeds) and economic issues (to insure income). The RotAB project (French Casdar funding 2008-2010) implemented complementary approaches to better knowing, characterizing and assessing arable crop rotations. Their conception depends on numerous factors such as the types of soil and climate (on which depend the types of crops, yield potential, possibility of mechanical weed control…) or the economic context (existence of outlets and continuity of markets). If nitrogen supply and weed control are the most important agronomic issues of organic farmers in stockless cropping systems, phosphorus availability appears to be the next important issue for soil fertility and system sustainability

References for organic farming systems: proposal for an innovative analytical frame

The RefAB project, associating about twenty people from research, training and development produced methodological framework of production of references at the level of the agricultural systems, built for organic farming but relevant to any type of agriculture. It is thus proposed to analyze the agricultural systems (in their economic, social and environmental performances) via five fundamental principles and properties in organic farming: resilience, autonomy, diversity, equity and ecology (referring to IFOAM principles). Various criteria, evaluated by indicators, make it possible to characterize the organic agricultural systems. If certain indicators are classically used in production of references, others are more innovative. The potential of the approach relies in the global approach that is proposed at the level of the farm

Mesure du frottement pariétal instationnaire autour d'un corps épais 3D par méthode électrochimique

Notre étude expérimentale s'intéresse à l'écoulement autour d'un modèle générique de véhicule automobile. Cet écoulement présente notamment une forte interaction entre structures tourbillonnaires à proximité de la paroi de la lunette arrière. Cette étude se propose d'approfondir la compréhension de ce phénomène d'interaction. La méthode polarographique, permettant de mesurer directement le frottement pariétal instationnaire, associée à la vélocimétrie laser Doppler a permis de mettre en évidence la présence de fréquences caractéristiques non observées jusqu'ici dans la littérature

Co-Designing an organic framework: the ”REF’AB” Project in France

To help the development of Organic Food and Farming (OFF) systems, there is the need to consolidate conversions to OF, to support entry into organic farming, and to develop existing organic farms. Therefore a group of extensionists, researchers and educators has being working 2 years long to co-design a framework for OFF, taking into account the need to (i) embrace all forms of OFF, and at the same time to (ii) address the specificities of OFF. This project, called REF’AB (REFerentiel de l’Agriculture Biologique, 2010-2012) aims at designing the organization of set of references produced on shared methodological bases. The approach consisted in identifying key-issues of OFF systems, defining indicators, identifying relevant databases and references to feed the framework, and providing recommendations for governance to optimise the establishment and circulation of references. The outcomes of this project is that first it was not necessarily clear what a framework for OFF should be, and therefore a conference of consensus was used as a methodological tool to share views by multi-stakeholders. Second, we used sustainability assessment as an integrative process of the three levels (technical-economic, environmental, and social) and third, to manage to share a more transversal approach, we proposed a framework with 3 levels of key-proprieties: 1) security and efficiency, 2) durability through the protection of resources, and 3) autonomy and resilience

Impact de l'introduction des légumineuses dans les systèmes de culture sur les émissions de protoxyde d'azote

Dans un objectif d'atténuation du réchauffement climatique, la mise en place de systèmes de culture plus autonomes vis - à - vis des engrais minéraux devient incontournable pour réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre (GES) tout en diminuant le coût de la fertilisation. L'insertion de légumineuses dans ces systèmes semble être un levier prometteur pour y parvenir. Les économies d'azote permises par différents modes d'introduction de légumineuses et leur impact sur les émissions de GES ont été estimés et évalués en quantifiant au préalable les flux d'azote dans les systèmes avec ou sans légumineuses à partir de données issues de dispositifs expérimentaux préexistants, disponibles dans la bibliographie ou acquises dans de nouveaux essais. L'introduction de légumineuses présente régulièrement un impact positif sur la réduction de l'emploi des engrais azotés. Le risque d'augmentation de la lixiviation du nitrate dépend de leur mode d'introduction et de leur place dans les rotations. Enfin, les émissions mesurées en cul tures principales de légumineuses sont généralement très significativement réduites en comparaison des cultures fertilisées, cependant la dégradation des résidus des légumineuses (en culture ou en couverts) peut générer des émissions de N 2 O corrélées à leur impact sur les flux d'azote, variable selon les conditions pédoclimatiques. Ces résultats devraient permettre d'élaborer des recommandations pour mieux prendre en compte les légumineuses dans la conception de systèmes de culture plus autonomes vis - à - vis des engrais azotés de synthèse et moins émetteurs de N 2 0

Shared Research Questions On Soil Quality In Organic Farming Systems

"In 2018, a participatory national workshop was organized by ITAB (Organic Food and Farming Technical Institute) and INRA (National Institute for Agricultural Research) in order to highlight issues on soils in Organic Farming (OF) systems. The objectives were: i) to identify the key research questions to be addressed on soils in OF, ii) to make it possible to facilitate network and project building from interactions between academics and stakeholders.Over 150 participants from academic and professional origins attended the workshop which was designed according to The Town Hall Meeting (THM) methodology.High level discussions among participants and panel experts ended up with a list of 20 research questions which confirmed the important lack of knowledge on that topic and the needs for research on the following issues: soils functioning with a focus on biogeochemical cycling and biological interactions; long term effects of agricultural practices, more or less specific to OF; soils protection; tools for soils diagnosis and management.

Comparison of cloud products within IASI footprints for the assimilation of cloudy radiances

This article compares different methods of deriving cloud properties in the footprint of the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), onboard the European MetOp satellite. Cloud properties produced by ten operational schemes are assessed and an intercomparison of the products for a 12 h global acquisition is presented. Clouds cover a large part of the Earth, contaminating most of the radiance data. The estimation of cloud top height and effective amount within the sounder footprint is an important step towards the direct assimilation of cloud-affected radiances. This study first examines the capability of all the schemes to detect and characterize the clouds for all complex situations and provides some indications of confidence in the data. Then the dataset is restricted to thick overcast single layers and the comparison shows a significant agreement between all the schemes. The impact of the retrieved cloud properties on the residuals between calculated cloudy radiances and observations is estimated in the long-wave part of the spectrum