Projet Soja Made in Normandie (SMN)

Despite a sharp increase in soybean acreage in France since 2013 (from 42,000 ha to 185,000 ha in 2021), France remains a major importer of soybeans. Even if the historical production basins (South-West and Centre-East) remain predominant, the soybean growing area is expanding thanks to the registration of new, very early varieties (varieties 000 and 0000) which make it possible to introduce this crop to the agricultural regions of the North-West. In order to respond to the search for protein autonomy of territories and livestock, to plant production with low input levels and to the growing interest of consumers in plant proteins, the cultivation of soybeans benefits from favourable prospects.

In order to study the feasibility of soybean cultivation in Normandy, the SMN project was set up to meet several objectives, namely to evaluate the adaptability of varieties to the Normandy agricultural territories with a high potential for this sector to improve (i) the development of soybeans at the beginning of the crop (optimise the early establishment phase and the efficiency of nitrogen fixation from the air), (ii) growth throughout the cycle, and (iii) the tolerance of soybeans to abiotic stresses (thermal and/or hydric) likely to occur at different stages of development by using plant biostimulants and priming strategies to propose original production schemes allowing for the rational management of inputs and irrigation to define new grain quality indices and innovative ways of controlling the nutritional, technological and sanitary quality of proteins for animal and human consumption.
The SMN project started in 2020 and is scheduled to last 2 years. It is co-sponsored by the University of Caen (UMR 950 INRA/UCN EVA (Plant Ecophysiology and Agronomy) and the technical institute Terres Inovia. It brings together scientific teams from UniLaSalle (AGHYLE, INTERACT), the University of Rouen Normandy (Glyco-Mev), the Normandy Chamber of Agriculture, the Creully and Agrial cooperatives and two companies specialising in biostimulants, namely Agrauxine by Lesaffre and Via Végétale. 

Contact: Jean LIEVEN 

j.lieven@terresinovia.fr