Living with Pests

Many studies have described the services provided by the integration of animals into cropping systems (animal traction, soil fertility, valorization of by-products, etc.).

Most of the work carried out to date in the field of crop health has focused on controlling a single pathogen of a given plant species. However, during the crop cycle, a plant is rarely confronted with a single disease. A whole range of diseases of different origins will develop and impact the crop's development. A growing body of literature points to the existence of diseases that are themselves associated with pathogen complexes affecting the same crop in space (co-infection or simultaneous infection) and time (multi-infection or sequential infection).

Agriculture is facing numerous challenges that call for innovation and changes in production methods to limit its impacts on biodiversity and health, in particular by reducing the use of pesticides.

Sustainable crop management requires going beyond the development of effective pest control strategies, and taking into account the non-target effects (NTEs) of these strategies.

Genetic resistances are an indispensable resource and a key lever in the successful transition to an agriculture less dependent on chemical protection. The management of these resources in local areas remains imperfect due to a lack of information, preconceived ideas, and controversy (cf. Lannou et al, 2020; SuMCrop 2022 transdisciplinary resistance seminar). To make resistance a lever for sustainable disease management, it is necessary to establish a transdisciplinary dialogue with stakeholders in farming areas and supply chains.

In the face of climate change, soil depletion, and stagnating yields, diversified cropping systems have the advantage of low fossil and chemical inputs, reducing negative externalities on ecosystems, while benefiting from the biological regulation provided by cultivated biodiversity.

Agriculture faces many challenges, including reducing dependence on inputs, particularly pesticides, and climate change (CC). As part of the agroecological transition (AET), adopting a pesticide-free agriculture approach will enable a paradigm shift to be made, in particular by developing a systemic vision of plant health and an in-depth redesign of agricultural systems towards innovative ones based on sanitation practices, plant diversity and biological regulation.