To guarantee yields, we would like to limit the impact of conventional agricultural chemical inputs, the use of which can be significantly reduced with practically no negative impact.

The global population and its needs are constantly increasing and the objective is now to produce more with less. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, “French research scientists have estimated that reducing chemical inputs by 30% would have no negative effects.”

Nicolas Munier-Jolain, research engineer at the National Institute for Agronomic Research in Dijon, (France) has noted that “We estimate that reducing the total amount of pesticides by 42% would have no negative impact in 59% of cases. This corresponds to an average reduction of 37% of weed-killers, 47% of fungicides and 60% of insecticides in France alone.”

Source: Le Monde

We would like to lower the cost of buying chemicals thereby improving the competitiveness of farmsteads.

“The Agriculture Commission of the European parliament has approved a draft report on “the supply chain of agricultural inputs” which pinpoints the fact that the price of these inputs has gone up by almost 40% over the past ten years, whereas agricultural prices have increased by less than 25%.

There is a need for more transparency and increased competition throughout the supply chain of agricultural inputs.”

Source: European parliament

Tools are required to address the problem of crop resistance to pesticides within a global innovation project. Adjusting the dose is one of the levers to avoid resistance.

Biology is not static. Since ancient times, farmers have spent considerable amounts of time and energy getting rid of weeds and clearing space for crops knowing full well that there are always losses. Even today, farmers worldwide spend most of their time doing just that. The advent of chemical weed-killers finally made it possible to clear cereals (which are dirtying crops) of harmful dicotyledons (mustards, ravenelles, poppies, etc.) and perennials such as dandelions. For the first time, the general use of weed-killers on other crops significantly reduced the number of weed seeds in the soil with a lasting effect.

Resistance to week-killers is a hereditary mechanism which allows a plant to put up with doses which kill other plants in the same family. Whatever the mechanism, this plant will survive doses which exceed – or even greatly exceed – the accepted levels.

Source: Perspectives Agricoles n° 371 – October 2010

Farmers have a special relationship with their neighbours. It is important nowadays that mutual confidence be reinstated. We need to show that things are changing and this must be visible from the field-side.

“Today, according to the French government, 71% of French consumers would like to buy local products and help the economic and social development of farms. However, the argument surrounding pesticides makes for difficult relationships between farmers and city dwellers. The initiatives which have been taken to improve this situation have a precise goal: “farmers want to improve the image of their farmsteads whilst conveying their passion for the job.”

Source: French Agricultural Ministry

We need to optimise the track and tracing of applications. By doing this, we want to show that when we use weed-killers, it’s for a good reason.

“Farmers are faced with new requirements when it comes to quality, product safety and environmental conservation. They have become fully-fledged companies providing goods and services and they must address an increasing number of external criteria. This evolution means a well-managed quality assurance system must be implemented to record, store and transfer the ever-increasing amount of information on the products and procedures.

Implementing such quality systems on a farm means keeping records of operations carried out, products used, standard operating procedures, good husbandry and sowing practices and specifications.

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