The United States and the European Commission invited to France to talk about innovation in agriculture
On December 7, 2022, the services of the Ministry of Agriculture welcomed a delegation of representatives of the American and European agricultural world in Hauts-de-France. They were accompanied by senior officials from the European Commission (DG AGRI) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of a cooperation platform launched in 2021 between DG AGRI and the USDA initiative on agriculture.
This platform is essentially a forum for sharing knowledge and promoting trust and mutual understanding on both sides of the Atlantic to meet the challenges facing global agriculture. It is in this context that the European Commission has proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty together with French research and development players to describe the innovations being developed in Europe in the fight against climate change in agriculture. This visit will provide an opportunity for Americans to learn about the development of sustainable agricultural practices in France, particularly soil health and the reduction of synthetics, among others. was an opportunity to see what was being done. All of these are important topics for the development of sustainable and sustainable agriculture and food systems.
Thus, the visitors were able to get acquainted with the work of scientists from the INRAe Grandes Cultures Innovation Environment experimental unit located in Estrées-Mons on the Somme island and from the BioEcoAgro mixed cross-border research unit, a new structure uniting about 400 researchers and technicians. and doctoral students on both sides of the Franco-Belgian border. The latter presented their work on long-term monitoring of soil carbon, associations of cereal and protein crops. Alternative agrotechnical innovations and techniques to phytosanitary products, especially glyphosate, were introduced with trials combining legumes to strengthen the resilience of cropping systems and adaptation to climate change.
This work is put into perspective by the interventions of Agro-Transfert Resources et Territoires, which allows to show concrete examples of how innovations are concretely transferred to farmers through this unique platform that brings together researchers and farmers at the service of the agrarian sector in France. – ecological transition of farms.
The day of the visit ended with the discovery of the activities of the Arvalis Institut du Végétal, located in Villers Saint-Christophe on the Aisne, which allows American visitors to explain the activities of the French technical institutes and their role. innovation-development continuity. A number of innovative solutions and technological developments were presented, such as:
- Mileos tool®OAD makes it possible to significantly reduce anti-mildew treatments in potato cultivation, which is currently quite widespread in France,
- or a root phenotyping research project to develop field crop solutions under climate change (Horizon Europe “Root2Res” project),
- official testing and testing station for approval of biocontrol products for potato storage,
- and the Alphi demonstrator, a high-throughput phenotyping vessel that incorporates various technologies (cameras, spectrometers, Lidars) to characterize plant condition; this high-tech equipment is located within the Plant2Pro Carnot Institute, which aims to optimize field practices, improve crop management and variety selection.
The services of the French ministry would like to thank the partners involved in the organization in the Hauts-de-France, for making this rare visit to our territory a complete success, allowing us to demonstrate how different actors are in the continuity of research. and work together to find solutions to make the agro-ecological transition of our agriculture successful, in line with the goals set by the European Union for the coming years, by transferring innovations to farms and companies.
