2020/03/06 by Guillier, Maeva, Cros, Claire, Reau, Raymond
#Azote #Conception innovante #Fertilisation #Fertilization #Innovative co-designing #Legumes #Légumineuse #Matière organique #Nitrogen #Organic matter
paper · doi:10.15454/6frb-e556
The increase of agricultural production in France depends on the use of chemical inputs in the fields, especially nitrogen fertilizers. This dependency not only has an increasing economic cost for farms, but also impacts on water (nitrate) and air (ammonia) pollutions. Farmers in the Champagne-Ardenne and Picardy regions have been committed to reduce this dependence while ensuring high-quality, viable and environment friendly agricultural production. Bringing together regional economic, technical and scientific actors, the Auto'N project was launched in 2014 to design and implement innovative and productive cropping systems using few nitrogen fertilizers, while promoting innovation by farmers and expanding the skills of advisors. This work was carried out in collaboration with 6 pilot farmers. They designed together cropping systems using few synthetic nitrogen fertilizers and implemented them on their farms with the support of their advisors from the Chambers of Agriculture and regional cooperatives. The design approach combined a systemic approach and knowledge mobilization. It merged multi-year cropping techniques in an adaptive management approach with observations, measurements and analysis of the results obtained in the fields, followed by an in itinere adaptation of practices to achieve expected results. Farmers goals do not only include the productive and economic dimension, they also cover the organic fertility of their soil and the control of nitrogen losses in water and air. The explored paths combined crops with low nitrogen needs, insertion of legumes as pure crop or associated crop, organic waste products, nitrogen recycling during intercrops and management of mineral nitrogen inputs. In 2018, after 4 harvests, the most promising cropping systems were in rupture with the existing ones but they also mobilized large quantities of organic nitrogen in a region where this resource is limited.