The Sustainable Management of Crop Health (SMaCH) meta-programme of INRA, France's National Institute of Agricultural Research, is now fully operational and has a new leader, Xavier Reboud (pictured right), who is keen to continue working with ENDURE, which brings a valuable pan-European scope to the programme.
INRA's meta-programmes combine several disciplines into common research programmes as a way to foster progress on essential global food, agricultural and environmental issues. Over the decade from 2010, they are set to mobilise a large chunk of INRA's combined resources by funding seminars, projects and doctoral dissertations.
SMaCH is one of eight INRA meta-programmes currently operational and has an annual budget of around €5 million, including operational costs and salaries, drawing on the expertise of seven scientific divisions including disciplines such as the social sciences, rural development and applied mathematics alongside genetics, biology, agronomy and ecology. To date, some 25 projects have been launched, involving around 230 INRA scientists.
“In today's complex climatic, demographic and energy context, agricultural research must deal with major issues on various scales. Therefore, with the meta-programme SMaCH, we have initiated a new method of piloting research with an integrated approach,” explained Xavier. “In SMaCH we work on the integration of multiple objectives.
“Our principal aim is to improve the health of cultivated plants while reducing dependence on pesticides. Of course, we need in the same time to assess the long term economic, environmental and social dimensions of prospective solutions. For these purposes, we encourage the development of plant health management and risk forecasting tools that are scientifically validated and operational in the field.
“Finally, we cooperate with crop health managers, in order to facilitate the transition of agricultural systems towards low pesticide input and high productivity. We believe this method will help us to make progress on the current challenges facing agricultural research.”
Given this clear aim of developing cropping systems and socio-economic organisations that mainstream the use of environmentally friendly strategies and control methods other than pesticides, SMaCH is funding research that promises to link the various components which are pertinent to crop protection but nevertheless often addressed in isolation.
Specifically, it places special emphasis on linking adapted plant varieties and the farming practices that support them, the spatial organisation of cropping systems and the development of a range of methods to diagnose and control major pests, and on the natural regulation processes that are at work among the range of organisms that constitute the biodiversity of agro-ecosystems.
For example, a trial network of no-pesticide cropping systems has been established in eight locations in France, based on crops adapted to the region. The cropping systems were designed through workshops involving various actors including researchers and are based on alternative techniques from the literature or from farmers. These systems are now being assessed in field trials with the aims of maximising commercial production, minimising environmental impacts and providing acceptable profits for farmers.
An example of how the spatial organisation of cropping systems and semi-natural habitats can be used to manage crop health is being conducted in north-west France on oilseed rape. Here researchers have demonstrated that the proportions of woodland and grassland in a radius of 1500m from oilseed rape fields can significantly favour the presence of Tersilochus heterocerus , the main parasitoid of the pollen beetle, a major insect pest in this crop. When the parasitism rate exceeds a certain threshold relative to the incidence of pollen beetles, biological regulation is sufficient and no insecticides are necessary. In Normandy, insecticide applications could be avoided in 62% of the cropping situations as a consequence of this spatial context.
An INRA team has already developed several plant protection applications to help the early and reliable identification of pests and diseases and to couple the diagnosis with the most appropriate protection methods. This work is ongoing and has two aims: building a continuum of diagnostic and advice tools already accessible over the internet on INRA's e-Phytia® website and to make them available in the field using the new opportunities provided by smartphones and tablets. For tobacco plants, CORESTA (Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco) has provided an English translation and will regularly supplement and improve the database for a free application which already helps tobacco farmers all over the world.
ENDURE adds a greater international flavour to SMaCH, helping to organise a short course on modelling for the sustainable management of crop health, for example, and is likely to be involved in a number of interesting projects in the future. Although INRA funding is only available for its own units, the participation of external teams is actively encouraged, provided they fund their own participation, as SMaCH emphasises the importance of a worldwide perspective on crop health problems, comparing situations in different countries and pooling resources.
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