Conception participative de systèmes agricoles associant arbres fruitiers et cultures annuelles

Innovation in agriculture is needed to face multiple challenges and reach sustainability. We aim at involving farmers in the design of innovative pilot farms, using agroforestry and agroecology to maximize ecosystemic services and minimize reliance to plant protection products. Projects are designed for long channels or for direct selling, with consequences in term of crop diversity and plot size. They started in 2013 and will be run on a long-term basis

EcoOrchard -Innovative design and management to boost functional biodiversity of organic orchards

Functional agrobiodiversity (FAB) uses orchard design and management to gain more natural enemies, making orchards more robust to pests. This CORE Organic Plus project aims to collect existing knowledge and generate new knowledge in order to use FAB successfully in orchards

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

Facing up to the paradigm of ecological intensification in agronomy: Revisiting methods, concepts and knowledge

International audienceAgriculture is facing up to an increasing number of challenges, including the need to ensure various ecosystem services and to resolve apparent conflicts between them. One of the ways forward for agriculture currently being debated is a set of principles grouped together under the umbrella term “ecological intensification”. In published studies, ecological intensification has generally been considered to be based essentially on the use of biological regulation to manage agroecosystems, at field, farm and landscape scales. We propose here five additional avenues that agronomic research could follow to strengthen the ecological intensification of current farming systems. We begin by assuming that progress in plant sciences over the last two decades provides new insight of potential use to agronomists. Potentially useful new developments in plant science include advances in the fields of energy conversion by plants, nitrogen use efficiency and defence mechanisms against pests. We then suggest that natural ecosystems may also provide sources of inspiration for cropping system design, in terms of their structure and function on the one hand, and farmers’ knowledge on the other. Natural ecosystems display a number of interesting properties that could be incorporated into agroecosystems. We discuss the value and limitations of attempting to 'mimic' their structure and function, while considering the differences in objectives and constraints between these two types of system. Farmers develop extensive knowledge of the systems they manage. We discuss ways in which this knowledge could be combined with, or fed into scientific knowledge and innovation, and the extent to which this is likely to be possible. The two remaining avenues concern methods. We suggest that agronomists make more use of meta-analysis and comparative system studies, these two types of methods being commonly used in other disciplines but barely used in agronomy. Meta-analysis would make it possible to quantify variations of cropping system performances in interaction with soil and climate conditions more accurately across environments and socio-economic contexts. Comparative analysis would help to identify the structural characteristics of cropping and farming systems underlying properties of interest. Such analysis can be performed with sets of performance indicators and methods borrowed from ecology for analyses of the structure and organisation of these systems. These five approaches should make it possible to deepen our knowledge of agroecosystems for action

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

EcoOrchard – collecting existing knowledge and generating new knowledge on functional biodiversity of organic orchards

Organic fruit growers often suffer economic losses due to insect damages. The available natural pest control products are not always effective; and most important: many organic fruit growers would prefer not to use any pesticide at all. EcoOrchard, a CORE Organic Plus project (2015-18) aims to collect existing knowledge and generate new knowledge in order to use Functional AgroBiodiversity (FAB) successfully in orchards. This includes experimental trials in seven countries on the potential of inter-row flower strips for control of key pests and natural enemy augmentation, the establishment of the EBIO-Network as a European-wide network of stakeholders for collecting, sharing and improving scientific and practical knowledge and experience in FAB management, the development and testing of simple FAB assessment tools for use on-farm by growers and advisors, and finally, using a participatory approach to learn about potential constraints that may hamper the adoption of innovative tools and how to solve these constraints by iterative reevaluation

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

Perception et gestion par les agriculteurs de la biodiversité fonctionnelle dans les vergers à pomme en agriculture biologique

Les bénéfices de la biodiversité fonctionnelle, notamment en terme de lutte contre les ravageurs, font l'objet de débats entre les praticiens et on sait peu de choses sur les pratiques et les motivations des agriculteurs pour favoriser cette biodiversité. Nous avons supposé que l'utilisation de méthodes de suivi aiderait les agriculteurs à mieux apprécier les bénéfices de la biodiversité fonctionnelle et les inciterait à mettre en œuvre des pratiques qui lui sont favorables. Nous avons mis en œuvre une approche globale combinant des entretiens semi-directifs et des ateliers participatifs pour décrire les pratiques et la perception des agriculteurs vis-à-vis de la biodiversité fonctionnelle et concevoir des méthodes de suivi adaptées à leurs besoins. Nos résultats fournissent des preuves empiriques que la biodiversité fonctionnelle est associée à de multiples services et dis-services. En outre, ils montrent que l'expérience et le temps disponible des agriculteurs sont deux conditions importantes à la mise en œuvre de pratiques favorables à la biodiversité fonctionnelle. Quatre attitudes principales envers la gestion de la biodiversité fonctionnelle ont été caractérisées : attentisme, naturalisme, régulation et multifonctionnalité. La connaissance de ces attitudes fournit un cadre utile pour concevoir des outils de soutien et des programmes de recherche en adéquation avec les besoins des agriculteurs