Institut Technique de l'Agriculture Biologique

Abstract Stakeholders from six European pilot sites engaged in participatory mapping and land suitability assessments to co-design climate-smart strategies for sustainable land management. The mixed methodology applied combined GIS based landscape vulnerability analysis, stakeholder knowledge, and assessments of ecosystem services. Key phases included preliminary assessment of environmental pressures, participatory SWOT analysis, and collaborative mapping exercises to identify suitable mixed farming (MF) and agroforestry (AF) practices. This approach empowered local communities, enhanced knowledge exchange, and integrated socio-ecological dimensions into land-use planning. Participatory mapping proved effective in capturing spatial perceptions, guiding context-specific transitions, and building consensus on landscape-scale interventions. Based on environmental pressure indicators, the scaling-up analysis showed that, depending on local conditions, the proportion of areas suitable for MF and AF ranged from 2 to 61% of the total area analysed across the six pilot sites. All the stakeholders agreed on the introduction of MF and AF and expressed differing views on their potential to reduce the environmental pressures of agricultural practices and enhance ecosystem services. Practitioners, such as farmers and advisors, emphasised the need for greater knowledge and stronger policy support to implement the transition toward more agroecological farming systems. While results highlight the large potential for MF and AF (up to 61% of the land use, in certain cases), it also showed the importance of participatory tools in bridging scientific research and practice, reinforcing the role of stakeholder engagement in designing resilient and multifunctional agricultural systems. While this might help to bridge the gap between planning and the implementation of agroecological practices across diverse European contexts, further research on the implementations and the socio-economic assessment of MF and AF at landscape scale is needed. Graphical abstract

Identifying disease risk factors, characterizing their effects, and forecasting disease risk across space and time are crucial tasks in human, animal, and plant epidemiology. Statistical and machine learning models have largely superseded purely descriptive analyses of data in handling these tasks. In addition, these models have demonstrated their full potential in the current era, characterized by an unprecedented abundance of data. However, applying these models to real-world, large-scale data sets raises critical questions: Which model should be used? Which explanatory variables should be selected? What data should be allocated for training and validation? The answers to these questions often have a significant impact on the analysis outcomes. One way to address some of these challenges is to analyze risk factors and predict risk by using an ensemble of models rather than relying on a single model. This approach is developed in this article and implemented in the case of virus yellows in sugar beet in France. Among the explanatory variables correlated with the severity of virus yellows, we identified winter and spring temperatures (positive correlation), spring humidity and precipitation (negative correlation), the proportion of cereal crops (positive correlation), the proportion of grasslands (negative correlation), and the distance to sugar beet seed production fields (negative correlation). Additionally, we found that predictions are generally more robust when using a spatial aggregation of models compared with relying on the best individual model. Our approach is highly versatile and can be applied to characterize and predict the spatiotemporal distributions of diverse diseases.

ISHS International Symposium on Models for Plant Growth, Environments, Farm Management in Orchards and Protected Cultivation - HorchiModel2023 ODACE: a tool for evaluation and dialogue between stakeholders and researchers, to support the design of plant protection solutions

Neonicotinoid (NN) insecticides derived from natural insecticide nicotine are EU chemical crop protection systemic active substances that are controversial regarding their toxicity and ecotoxicity, especially versus pollinators and birds. Clearly, the last European evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority exhibited a danger to wild and managed bees. Concomitantly, the decline in birds was partially attributed to this class of substances, which constitutes a family in itself, both in Europe and the USA. At the regulatory level, following the initial approval waves in 2011 and 2019, and mainly taking into account these ecotoxicological considerations, the commission banned the use of three NN insecticides in 2013 (imidacloprid, clothianidin, and thiamethoxam), and later, only one NN (acetamiprid) was renewed. Four NN approvals were removed by the end of approval or non-renewal in 2019 and 2020, and two are currently concerns for renewals in 2025, even if extensions of the approval durations of these NNs are to be expected due to the current slowness of the renewal procedure. Therefore, from the total number (17) of NN insecticide molecules known all over the world, up to seven NN were approved by the EU plant protection Regulation EC 1107/2009 between 2011 and now. All of these active substances are listed in Parts A and B of Regulation EU 540/2011 managing active substances. The regulatory evolution of these agrochemicals is analysed in this work, from the corresponding global modifications in terms of the number of active substances, employment, functions, uses covered, protected crops, and maximum residue limits. We also analysed their ability to persist as an agrochemical family and the potential of the inclusion of new NN members together with their current restrictions during their active substance life in Europe.

Afin de contribuer au développement continu de l’Agriculture Biologique (AB) en France, cet article apporte des éléments de compréhension de son cadre réglementaire et de ses particularités. Tout d’abord, l’analyse sociotechnique montre que les conceptions de la santé animale, portées par les éleveurs et les accompagnants techniques spécialisés, sont basés sur une approche préventive et holistique de la santé animale, selon laquelle la gestion de la santé passe avant tout par des leviers liés à la conduite du système d’élevage. Les éleveurs s’entourent d’une diversité d’acteurs pour les accompagner dans cette gestion globale de la santé, qui dépasse le conseil classique du vétérinaire. Ensuite, une autre particularité de la santé en élevage AB traitée ici est relative au statut épidémiologique des élevages : même si une forte variabilité existe entre élevages et pays, l’état sanitaire des troupeaux est en moyenne meilleur en AB qu’en agriculture conventionnelle. Enfin, un focus zootechnique est réalisé sur certaines pratiques d’élevage imposées ou recommandées par le cahier des charges pour des raisons de préservation de la santé ou de la biodiversité. Ces pratiques ont été largement adoptées par les éleveurs en AB et ont eu des impacts positifs sur la préservation de la santé des animaux. Ces particularités ont été traitées dans la littérature de façon inégale selon les filières. Des développements plus importants sont donc faits dans cette synthèse sur les espèces de Ruminants, et des apports plus ponctuels sur les productions porcines et avicoles.

The reduction of copper-based plant-protection products with the final aim of phasing out has a high priority in European policy, as well as in organic agriculture. Our survey aims at providing an overview of the current use of these products in European organic agriculture and the need for alternatives to allow policymakers to develop strategies for a complete phasing out. Due to a lack of centralized databases on pesticide use, our survey combines expert knowledge on permitted and real copper use per crop and country, with statistics on organic area. In the 12 surveyed countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, and the UK), we calculated that approximately 3258 t copper metal per year is consumed by organic agriculture, equaling to 52% of the permitted annual dosage. This amount is split between olives (1263 t y−1, 39%), grapevine (990 t y−1, 30%), and almonds (317 t y−1, 10%), followed by other crops with much smaller annual uses (<80 t y−1). In 56% of the allowed cases (countries × crops), farmers use less than half of the allowed amount, and in 27%, they use less than a quarter. At the time being, completely abandoning copper fungicides would lead to high yield losses in many crops. To successfully reduce or avoid copper use, all preventive strategies have to be fully implemented, breeding programs need to be intensified, and several affordable alternative products need to be brought to the market.

Les problématiques posées par les intrants sous leurs diverses formes ont récemment bénéficié d’une plus large prise en compte, et d’un gain d’intérêt auprès du grand public et des autorités compétentes. Cette demande sociétale se traduit par une augmentation et une diversification des solutions alternatives aux intrants d’origine chimique, que ce soit avec les produits de biocontrôle pour la protection des plantes, la fertilisation ou la biostimulation. Les autorités publiques cherchent donc à cadrer l’utilisation de ces nouveaux intrants à l’aide de réglementations nationales en publiant décrets et arrêtés. C’est ainsi qu’en France est née la catégorie des Préparations naturelles peu préoccupantes (PNPP) en 2006. Cette catégorie contient les substances de base, mais aussi les substances naturelles à usage biostimulant ayant récemment fait l’objet d’une modification d’ampleur de leur réglementation, dont nous analysons ici les conséquences en termes de nombre de substances autorisées. La liste des Substances naturelles à usage biostimulant la plus exhaustive possible est obtenue à partir de différents documents officiels concernant les plantes considérées comme alimentaires pour l’être humain et l’animal. L’augmentation considérable du nombre de substances naturelles à usage biostimulant est une opportunité pour les agriculteurs et représente une évolution sans précèdent dans la réglementation, passant d’une approche positive avec des substances explicitement autorisées, à une approche négative où certaines substances sont interdites et toutes les autres sont autorisées. Cet article tente d’éclaircir la situation en permettant aux agriculteurs de disposer d’une base de données de plantes utilisables sans crainte que la substance ou la plante ne soit considérée comme non alimentaire par les autorités, et donc soumise à d’autres contraintes.

Common bunt is a re-emerging seed-borne disease affecting particularly organic cereal farming. Tilletia caries was identified as the predominant species in 26 isolates collected from 15 French departments with 100% occurrence, compared with T. foetida, at 15.4%. Twenty strains of T. caries were selected to identify their virulences, from their behaviour on differential host range, revealing a predominant virulence on Bt-7 resistance gene, with a frequency of 48%, followed by Bt-2 (24%) and Bt-15 (19%). An early varietal resistance test by qPCR at the 2-3 leaf stage, quantifying Tilletia sp. DNA, was developed. This early test (7-8 weeks) was found to be well correlated with the adult field test (8 months), based on visual notation of the bunted ear rate (RPearson= 0.89). A resistance test using the predominant virulences will be taken into account for the registration in the French Catalogue of soft wheat varieties for organic farming. It will allow the selection of resistant varieties which can replace chemical seed treatments or be combined with alternative treatments.