MESSEAN , Antoine

Today many research projects and experiments explore alternative routes to chemical crop protection. The examples presented here do not simply propose substitutes to pesticides but illustrate a larger vision: the system approach. This may mean combining complementary control techniques into integrated strategies, moving towards a more resilient...

In the last decade, an extraordinary policy effort has been put in place to reduce the use of chemical plant protection products (PPPs) in French agriculture. This was done through a National Action Plan called Ecophyto which is the French response to the EU Framework Directive on the sustainable use of PPPs. The change in crop protection,...

This paper analyses how possibilities of input reduction in arable crops, despite scientific evidence, are limited by lock-in effects within the agri-food system, and more specifically by industrial and marketing criteria. We will first demonstrate, on the basis of a path-dependency analysis, how this agri-food system has embraced on the long...

Pour inscrire l'agriculture dans une perspective de développement durable, les mutations en cours requièrent une nouvelle vaque d'innovations. Dans ce cadre, le passage à de nouvelles formes de protection des cultures nécessite toujours des innovations technologiques, mais la nature de ces innovations change. Cela concerne des domaines...

This paper is based on the work done in the French research project Gedupic (Gestion écologique de la santé des plantes) which brings together agricultural and social scientists around the issues of transition towards integrated production. Three case studies on wheat, weeds in arable crops and orchards make possible the study of transitions in...

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Climate change is increasingly perceived as one of the major constraints that limit agricultural productivity. Crop losses due to climate change could be direct, such as damages through flooding or storms, or indirect such as altered distribution of crop pests. The real impact of climate change at global level is yet uncertain and likely...

Agriculture faces the challenge of meeting increasing food demands whilst simultaneously satisfying ever stringent sustainability goals. Taken together with the ever increasing rate of integrated globalisation and other anthropogenic impacts, this challenge is further complicated by climate change. Climate change is indeed increasingly...

EU agriculture is currently in transition from conventional crop protection to integrated pest management (IPM). Because biocontrol is a key component of IPM, many European countries recently have intensified their national efforts on biocontrol research and innovation (R&I), although such initiatives are often fragmented. The operational...

The use of pesticides made it possible to increase yields, simplify cropping systems, and forego more complicated crop protection strategies. Over-reliance on chemical control, however, is associated with contamination of ecosystems and undesirable health effects. The future of crop production is now also threatened by emergence of pest...

The overall objective of PURE is to provide practical IPM solutions to reduce dependence on pesticides in selected major farming systems in Europe. This paper summarises methodological advances with regards to the design and assessment of IPM solutions. The presented case studies include major crops (cropping systems based on wheat or...