Cookie type	Means of blocking
Analytical and performance cookies	Realytics Google Analytics Spoteffects Optimizely
Targeted advertising cookies	DoubleClick Mediarithmics

Mandatory cookies	Functional cookies	Social media and advertising cookies
These cookies are needed to ensure the proper functioning of the site and cannot be disabled. They help ensure a secure connection and the basic availability of our website.	These cookies allow us to analyse site use in order to measure and optimise performance. They allow us to store your sign-in information and display the different components of our website in a more coherent way.	These cookies are used by advertising agencies such as Google and by social media sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook. Among other things, they allow pages to be shared on social media, the posting of comments, and the publication (on our site or elsewhere) of ads that reflect your centres of interest.
Our EZPublish content management system (CMS) uses CAS and PHP session cookies and the New Relic cookie for monitoring purposes (IP, response times). These cookies are deleted at the end of the browsing session (when you log off or close your browser window)	Our EZPublish content management system (CMS) uses the XiTi cookie to measure traffic. Our service provider is AT Internet. This company stores data (IPs, date and time of access, length of the visit and pages viewed) for six months	Our EZPublish content management system (CMS) does not use this type of cookie.

ASPECT - Pesticide-free agroecology and adaptation to climate change: exploring synergies and antagonisms based on experimental case studies in three crop sectors

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.

Background and challenges

© INRAE - verger sous protection anti-gel par aspersion, 7 avril 2021, Gotheron

© INRAE - bandes fleuries à Ca-SYS Bretenière

At the same time, it is mandatory to design adapted and adaptable farming systems to CC. Thus, it requires to develop systems’ resilience to CC and extreme weather events, and to contribute to mitigate CC in a virtuous circle. Climatic hazards impact agroecosystems through their effects on pests and their natural enemies, crops, water resources, etc., which may challenge certain agroecological crop protection practices.
The challenge is therefore to design systems that meet the need of AET, in a context of CC. Agronomic experiments studying agroecological systems using a holistic approach are relevant both for understanding the impact of CC on these systems and for identifying the levers or obstacles to the transition to systems less dependent on inputs such as pesticides, in a CC context.

Objectives

ASPECT is based on three experimental case studies across three experimental units of INRAE involved in AET and confronted to the necessary adaptation to CC. The experimenters involved in these case studies are working on agricultural systems in different sectors: field crops (U2E), orchards (UERI) and market-gardening (UE Maraîchage) in three different French regions. The approaches developed in each case study are original in terms of agroecological redesign, study scales and interactions with stakeholders from agriculture sector and society. The Agroclim service unit brings experience and expertise in studying the current and future effects of climate on crops.

ASPECT's objectives are:

To produce an effective framework for designing agroecological systems that take CC into account. The lessons learned from experimental works across three sites/crop sectors, relating to synergies or antagonisms between plant health management and adaptation to CC, will be explained.
To capitalise on practical experience and to increase the skills of experimenters to develop and implement agroecological practices in a CC context. Inter-unit exchange workshops are planned to facilitate the experience sharing in this cross-sector reflection.
To share lessons and identify opportunities for multi-disciplinary broadening of ASPECT through an open webinar in early 2025.

Involved research units and partnership:

Research unit	Scientific division	Field of expertise
U2E Domaine d’Epoisses	SPE	Cropping system agronomist. Design and assessment of arable crop agroecological systems; Coordinator of the CA-SYS platform. Analysis and valorisation of the CA-SYS cropping system experiment. Experience feedback
U2E Domaine d’Epoisses	BAP-SPE-AgroEcoSystem	Setting up and monitoring of the CA-SYS system. Experience feedback
UMR Agroécologie	AgroEcoSystem	Cropping system agronomist, Coordinator of the CA-SYS platform. Effect of agricultural systems on weed flora
UE Maraîchage	ACT	Cropping system agronomist, system design, plant health and adaptation to climate change, coordinator of the project
UE Maraîchage	ACT	Soil ecologist
UE Maraîchage	ACT	Agronomist, plant health
UE Maraîchage	ACT	Setting up and monitoring of agroecological market-gardening systems under shelter. Experience feedback
UE Gotheron	SPE	Cropping system agronomist. Design and assessment of pesticide free agroecological systems in fruit production; coordinator of the ALTO project Cropping system agronomist. Design and assessment of pesticide free agroecological systems in fruit production; coordinator of the ALTO project Analysis and valorisation of ALTO. Experience feedbacks
UE Gotheron	SPE	Setting up and monitoring of experiments, especially the ALTO project. Experience feedbacks
UE Gotheron	SPE	Setting up and monitoring of experiments. Experience feedbacks
US Agroclim	AgroEcoSystem	Modelling agronomists, specialists in the effect of CC on crops. Expertise to build the conceptual scheme for analysing the 3 experiments in regards to extreme weather events encountered, and suggest hypotheses on the evolution of CC impacts.

Contact of the coordinator(s):

Modification date: 11 September 2024 | Publication date: 17 May 2024 | By: Sylvaine Simon / Amélie Lefèvre