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 the agriculture cooperation platform launched in 2021 between DG AGRI and USDA.
Indeed, this platform is a forum for exchanging knowledge and fostering mutual trust and understanding on both sides of the Atlantic to address the challenges of 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 actors, to illustrate the innovations being developed in Europe in the fight against climate change in agriculture. This trip was an opportunity for Americans to see what is being done in France in terms of developing sustainable agricultural practices, especially soil health and reduction of synthetic inputs, etc. These are all crucial issues for the development of resilient and sustainable agri-food systems.
Visitors were thus able to discover the work of the scientists of the INRAe Grandes culture Innovation Environnement experimental unit, located in Estrées-Mons in the Somme and of the BioEcoAgro cross-border mixed research unit, a new structure bringing together around 400 researchers, technicians and PhD students on both sides of the Franco-Belgian border. The latter presented their work on long-term monitoring of soil carbon and on cereal and protein crop associations. Innovations and agronomic techniques alternative to plant protection products were also presented, in particular glyphosate, with experiments that integrate legumes to strengthen the resilience of crop systems and their adaptation to climate change.
This work has been put into perspective with the interventions of Agro-Transfert Ressources et Territoires which have made it possible to illustrate with concrete examples how innovations are concretely transferred to farmers through this unique platform in France which brings together researchers and farmers at the service of the agro – ecological transition of farms.
The day’s visit ended with the discovery of the activities of Arvalis, Institut du Végétal, present in Villers Saint-Christophe in the Aisne, making it possible to explain in particular to American visitors the functioning of French technical institutes and their role. innovation-development continuum. Several innovative solutions and technological developments were presented such as:
- the Mileos tool®OAD which makes it possible to significantly reduce the anti-mold treatments in potato cultivation, now widely used in France,
- o the root phenotyping research project (Horizon Europe “Root2Res” project) to develop solutions for open field crops in the face of climate change,
- the official experimentation and testing station for the approval of biocontrol products for potato storage,
- and the “Alphi” demonstrator, a high-throughput phenotyping ark incorporating different technologies (cameras, spectrometers, Lidar) to characterize the state of cultures; this high-tech equipment was deployed within the Plant2Pro Carnot Institute, which aims to optimize field trials, improve crop management and varietal selection.
The services of the French ministry would like to thank the partners present in the Hauts-de-France involved in the organization who made this rare visit to our territory a complete success, allowing us to illustrate how the various actors in the research and innovation continuum up to the farms and companies are working together to find solutions to make the agro-ecological transition of our agriculture a success, in line with the objectives that the European Union has set itself for the years to come.
