Thematic and citation structure dynamics of Food & Farming research

This paper analyses the Organic Food & Farming (OF&F) scientific domain dynamic throught a "progressive document co-citation analysis" based on peer-reviewed papers from Web of Science. The dataset of OF&F domain displayed an exponential growth and a thematic diversification pattern. Both dominant and marginal clusters in association with their main cited articles were identified. This study enables to pinpoint major themes addressed or emerging. It can feed further research work and projects, namely with the definition of information system and research policy

Information needs and thematic priorities of the organic food and farming sector in France

A large survey was performed among a wide range of actors covering the areas of experimentation and research, processing and distribution, extension services, education and administration, all more or less committed in OF&F, to identify their information needs. This survey highlights the need for increased information dissemination. This analysis identifies four different publics with specific needs. Professional experience, degree of commitment to OF&F and professional category are structuring variables. Legal and economic information on food quality and processing is generally of interest to senior actors who have the lowest information needs. On the contrary, junior actors actively involved in the developmental and educational aspects of OF&F have the greatest information needs over a wide range of themes. Thematic priorities are also different depending on professional categories and types of information. While technicians and farmers call for scientific and technical information on plant production issues, only young farmers in OF&F give priority to animal production issues. The dataset must be further analysed but it already provides insights for recommendations on information dissemination and research priority setting

Concilier des performances pour une agriculture durable - L'agriculture biologique comme prototype.

L'agriculture biologique est de plus en plus reconnue comme prototype d’agriculture durable car elle combine de multiples performances. Toutefois des tensions apparaissent entre certaines de ces performances. Une équipe de l’unité Écodéveloppement d’Avignon explore ces tensions en l'arboriculture fruitière

L'écologisation des pratiques en arboriculture et maraichage. Enjeux et perspectives de recherches

Les systèmes horticoles (arboriculture et maraîchage) sont parmi les plus intensifs en main d'oeuvre et en intrants ; la production conventionnelle repose sur un usage intense des produits phytosanitaires, pour satisfaire les critères d'accès aux circuits commerciaux des grandes et moyennes surfaces, et en particulier le « zéro défaut visuel ». Le secteur des fruits et légumes est extrêmement concurrentiel du fait de la faible part des aides (européennes, nationales) et souffre d'une forte distorsion des coûts de production entre états membres. Ces dernières années, la problématique de l'écologisation de l'agriculture, pour une meilleure préservation de l'environnement mais aussi de la santé des consommateurs, a particulièrement accru la pression sur le secteur des fruits et légumes, notamment à travers le lancement du programme Ecophyto 2018 qui vise à réduire de 50% les intrants chimiques à horizon 2018, ou encore avec les incitations au développement de l'agriculture biologique. Mais l' écologisation des systèmes horticoles est particulièrement contrainte sur un plan technique et économique. Il s'agit en effet de trouver des systèmes alternatifs qui soient à la fois performants sur le plan agronomique et écologique, mais aussi économiquement et socialement acceptables. Sur la base de plusieurs travaux de recherche en sciences techniques et sciences sociales réalisés à l'unité Ecodéveloppement de l'INRA depuis une dizaine d'années, nous proposons une analyse des enjeux et des perspectives d'écologisation despratiques dans ces systèmes. Nous développerons dans cet article trois thèmes principaux : les performances que doivent viser les nouveaux systèmes écologisés, les moyens d'action et les leviers à mobiliser pour les concevoir, et les dispositifs d'acteurs dans lesquels s'insère la recherche de nouveaux systèmes. À ces trois questions, nous apportons des éléments de réponse appuyés par des exemples concrets issus de nos travaux en arboriculture et en maraîchage, en production intégrée ou en agriculture biologique

Innovative design and management to boost functional biodiversity of organic orchards : the ECOORCHARD project

Orchards are perennial cultures, and, especially in organic fruit production it is essential to design and manage orchards in a way which favours beneficials such as insect predators and parasitoids over pests and diseases. As landscape-dominating crops their management affects overall biodiversity in the agricultural landscape. Increasing plant biodiversity and habitats in such a way that beneficials are favoured is called Functional Agro-Biodiversity (FAB). The value of FAB for reducing pesticide use in fruit production is generally acknowledged, and many growers try to increase it. However, they lack situation-specific information about how to drive and assess biodiversity to optimize FAB. ECOORCHARD is therefore combining several approaches: (i) identifying and sharing innovative methods already implemented by fruit growers to increase FAB in EU countries ; (ii) assessing simple methods for farmers to monitor FAB ; (iii) quantifying the effect of FAB-boosting flower strips. The different on-farm sites, scientific trials and a web-based stakeholder platform to collect and share information are important elements to bring the collected experiences and scientific results very directly to the organic fruit growers. Interviews already started in 2015 with advisors and growers will provide useful information on original practices and methods used in orchard, to be shared during workshops with farmers for empowerment. ECOORCHARD aims to develop appropriate functional biodiversity practices for users’ needs and thus will identify and assess innovative techniques in terms of effectiveness and implementation conditions , carry out classical field experiments, on-farm and multi-site trials and collective workshops involving farmers, researchers and advisory services. More on : http://coreorganicplus.org/research-projects/ecoorchar

Workshop: Enhancement of functional biodiversity

Participants of this workshop were invited to comment on and discuss information on techniques for functional agrobiodiversity which had been collected from an European questionnaire among growers and advisors in apple orchard production in the framework of the Core Organic Plus Project "EcoOrchard". In additon to the workshop, participants were invited to answer to a questionnaire on their expertise and experience on functional agrobiodiversity in apple growing

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.

EBIO-Network – a new knowledge platform on functional agrobiodiversity in European Orchards

Description of objectives and content of the website "EbioNetwork" which has been created under the umbrella of the Core Organic Plus Project EcoOrchard. The project EcoOrchard aims to collect existing knowledge and to generate new knowledge on how to successfully maintain or promote Functional Agrobiodiversity (FAB) in orchards. Therefore, it has established the knowledge portal EBIO-Network. The portal connects European fruit growers with stakeholders from research, advisory services and other organisations

L’écologisation des pratiques en arboriculture et maraîchage. Enjeux et perspectives de recherches

L’écologisation des systèmes arboricoles et maraîchers est une nécessité en termes de préservation de l’environnement mais elle est particulièrement contrainte sur un plan technique et économique. Sur la base d’un ensemble de travaux de recherche réalisés à l’Unité Ecodéveloppement depuis une dizaine d’années, nous proposons une analyse des enjeux et des perspectives d’écologisation des pratiques afin d’identifier des voies de transition vers des systèmes horticoles écologisés. Cette analyse s’articule autour de trois questions : (1) l’analyse multidimensionnelle des performances (agronomiques, écologiques, économiques, sociales) que doivent atteindre les systèmes écologisés ; (2) les leviers techniques qu’il est possible de mobiliser pour concevoir ces systèmes ; (3) les types de transitions et les dispositifs d’acteurs à l’oeuvre. L’article s’appuie notamment sur le cadre conceptuel Efficience – Substitution- Reconception et vise une montée en généricité par la comparaison de différents terrains en arboriculture et maraîchage, et de différents points de vue d’agronomes, d’économistes et de sociologues

Monitoring methods adapted to different perceptions and uses of functional biodiversity: Insights from a European qualitative study

The role of functional biodiversity for favouring natural regulation and reducing pesticide use in fruit production is generally acknowledged. Although a number of farmers attempt to favour biodiversity through different strategies (e.g. diversified hedges, nesting boxes), they often lack means to evaluate how their actions contribute in practice to functional biodiversity. We assumed here that to create useful and appropriate monitoring methods, it is necessary to take into account the variety of knowledge, perceptions and interests about functional biodiversity. To test our hypothesis, we adopted a comprehensive and participative approach based on interviews and workshops with farmers, advisors and field agronomists involved in apple orchard management. Our objective was to understand their different perceptions and uses of functional biodiversity and then, to design monitoring methods adapted to those perceptions and pre-existing uses. Our findings revealed both a plurality of perceptions of functional biodiversity along with a diversity of objectives and uses of monitoring methods. Based on these results, we identified four main attitudes towards the management of functional biodiversity: the wait-and-see attitude, the naturalist attitude, the regulation attitude and the multifunctional attitude. These attitudes do not correspond to person's profiles, since one person can adopt different attitudes in regard to different biodiversity components or in regard to the different practices supporting biodiversity. In addition, attitudes can vary over time. The identification of these attitudes allowed us to design, with the workshops' participants, a guiding framework to create monitoring programs (i.e. combinations of monitoring methods) adapted to a variety of uses and targeted services