MEMORUST - Construction, forgetting, and re-mobilization of knowledge in plant health: a historical analysis of wheat stem rust in the context of agroecological transition

Background and challenge

Wheat stem rust, caused by Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici (Pgt), is re-emerging in Europe after having been considered under control since the mid-20th century. This control relied on the eradication of the alternate host, barberry (Berberis vulgaris), and the use of resistant wheat varieties. Today, these practices have been largely deprioritized, and the collective memory of the associated knowledge appears to be fading. The MEMORUST project addresses this context by going beyond the purely biological dimension: it explores the forgetting and re-mobilization of knowledge in plant health within a framework of agroecological transition and increasing uncertainty linked to climate change and technical innovations. The interdisciplinary approach combines rural history and history of science to understand the construction, transmission, and loss of knowledge, with phytopathology and agronomy to analyze how field actors perceive (re)emerging threats. MEMORUST challenges the notion of cumulative and definitive progress in plant health, showing that environmental and technical disruptions can reveal gaps in practices and knowledge. The project aims to provide a framework for reflecting on scientific memory and collective knowledge, offering insights for managing future phytosanitary crises and supporting communication and anticipatory strategies in response to emerging threats.

Objectives 

“The loss of knowledge is a historical process resulting from a collective, multi-actor trajectory” — this is the central hypothesis of MEMORUST. The project aims to collect diverse documentary sources (literature, scientific publications, activity reports, regulatory acts, oral interviews, private archives such as “farm notebooks,” INRAE archives, etc.) to validate this hypothesis and analyze the determinants of this process. 

Their analysis will allow reconstruction of the trajectory of knowledge — its construction, forgetting, and re-mobilization — as well as the associated practices for managing wheat stem rust in France. The results, considered in a generalizable way, will help identify actions that could have limited knowledge loss and, if applied to the present situation, could improve anticipation of disease re-emergence and even control it, including epidemiological analysis, preparation of field actors, and enhancement of response capacity. A critical perspective will be applied to the assumption that knowledge in agronomic sciences is strictly cumulative (i.e., without loss or forgetting), or that responses to plant health crises follow a logic of permanent, definitive resolution (or non-resolution). Wheat stem rust provides a relevant case for tracing how knowledge was constructed, disseminated, mobilized, and ultimately forgotten. 

This case study will document the non-linear and non-strictly incremental trajectory of knowledge, made visible during a period of transition — in this instance both environmental (climate change) and technical (agroecological transition).

Involved research units and partnership

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Contacts / coordination