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Agroecology: the Syppre Berry network shown as an example

On March 14, Terres Inovia participated in the 2nd meeting of the RMT "Fields and territories" on how to conduct an agroecological transition. The institute showed, with the example of the Syppre Berry network, how to accompany a group of farmers in the change of cropping system.

How to succeed in leading an agroecological transition in the territories in an operational way? To help farmers think and implement a project on a territorial scale, the RMT Champs & Territoires Atelier organized a day of exchanges on the theme "Thinking and designing territorial projects capable of meeting the challenges of agroecology", as part of a series of meetings on information useful for carrying out agroecological transitions, in Paris on March 14.
A network to help farms adopt agroecology

This RMT, intended for producers, has three objectives:

    To innovate in territories and farms, by learning to build innovative agricultural systems and food systems, with long time scales and spatial scales larger than the cultivated field ;
    To develop the skills of facilitators, managers and advisors involved in the support of stakeholders in these territories (farmers, stakeholders, etc.);
    To produce useful resources for the actors, for public policies, as well as for training in higher education or agricultural technical education.

The Syppre Berry network, an example of co-design in a farmers' collective

Different interventions, for example from experts of Chambers of Agriculture or INRAE, punctuated this day of exchanges.

Among them, Stéphane Cadoux, head of the agronomy, economics and environment department at Terres Inovia, explained how to build cultivation methods within a group of farmers based on objectives for the state of the cultivated field. He detailed the way the Syppre Berry network works, which was federated in 2005 around a common desire of a group of farmers: to succeed with rapeseed, which is considered indispensable by farmers, by being less dependent on climatic hazards and the effectiveness of inputs.

The group quickly realized the central role of the plant's condition on its sensitivity to hazards. This led to a common principle: to obtain a robust rapeseed in a new approach by defining the desirable states of the cultivated field, which facilitates the identification by each farmer of the practices adapted to his situation. This approach has led to the development of major innovations: the associated rapeseed and the robust rapeseed approach, based on a dashboard.

The deployment of this tool to other themes and networks, within the framework of the OUTILLAGE project, has made it possible to show that support based on the results expected by farmers constitutes a paradigm shift that disrupts consulting habits, in farmers' groups for example. "In addition to knowledge, the need to mobilize support approaches and tools that involve farmers and are based on the results to be achieved in order to start a progress loop seems necessary to support agro-ecological transitions," concludes Stéphane Cadoux.

This workshop will be followed by two other days on agroecology: "Understanding how territories work" on October 12 and "Supporting farmers through change" on March 14.

To learn more

Les résultats opérationnels du projet OUTILLAGE

​​​​​​​Le réseau Syppre