Speaker
Description
High quantities of pesticides are applied in vineyards. A shift towards pesticide-free cropping systems, grounded in agroecological principles, is imperative for enhancing the sustainability of agriculture. To achieve this objective, farmers need to change their practices (Tittonell 2014). At the farm level, numerous agroecological practices, more or less effective, already exist but they must be combined (Wezel et al., 2014). The implementation of practices is often done step-by-step following a long process (Sutherland et al. 2012). However, winegrowers are facing several lock-ins toward pesticide use reduction. It is important to explore their trajectories to understand how farmers bypassed these lock-ins. This study aims to analyse the diversity of trajectories of technical changes during the pesticide use reduction transition.
Our study is based on the DEPHY-Network, a French farm network created to demonstrate the capacity of farms to reduce their pesticide use. We focused on farms that joined the network between 2010 and 2012, analysing a minimum 10-year trajectory and selecting 37 farms from the network using a three-criteria sampling grid for the survey. The criteria included the wine-growing area (Mediterranean, Atlantic, or Northern climate), production mode (conventional or organic farming), and pesticide use trajectory type defined by Fouillet et al. (2023). Cluster 1 corresponds to farms that entered the network with a low TFI and that experienced a low TFI decrease (-16.4%). Cluster 2 corresponds to farms that started with a low TFI and that managed to reduce significantly their TFI (-48.7%). Cluster 3 represents farms with a high initial TFI and a high TFI reduction (-63%).
All technical changes related to pesticide use since entering the network were identified and characterized using the “Efficiency (E), Substitution (S), Redesign (R)” (ESR) framework (Hill & MacRae, 1996). Each change was assigned an E, S, R level based on its nature and intensity, and an integrated ESR score of change was calculated each year for each vineyard following Merot et al.'s (2019) methods. We studied each individual trajectory of ESR scores by using Moulin et al. (2008) method, splitting trajectory into agronomic coherence phases. We considered that an integrated ESR score R affected this coherence. After delimiting the coherence phases, the next step consisted of qualifying each coherence phase according to the practices performed into technical combination.
From the surveys, we recorded 64 changes implemented by the winegrowers. Major levers included dose reduction, replacement of chemical products with biocontrol and cessation of herbicides under the row. Cluster 2 experienced a higher change in the coherence phase by predominantly redesigning their cropping systems (e.g. conversion to organic farming, ), while Cluster 3 and Cluster 1 Farms primarily implemented levers focused on gaining efficiency (e.g. progressive dose reduction).
Our study underscores that the diversity of identified pathways is associated with different implemented levers and the evolution of pesticide reduction. Further analyses are essential to identify the trade-offs between pesticide reduction and other performance indicators (yield evolution) and to characterize the risks undertaken by farmers during the agroecological transition.
References:
Gliessman, S. (2016). Transforming food systems with agroecology. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 40(3), 187‑189. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2015.1130765
Fouillet, E., Delière, L., Flori, A., Rapidel, B., & Merot, A. (2023). Diversity of pesticide use trajectories during agroecological transitions in vineyards : The case of the French DEPHY network. Agricultural Systems, 210, 103725. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2023.103725
Hill, S. B., & MacRae, R. J. (1996). Conceptual Framework for the Transition from Conv entional to Sustainable Agriculture. Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 7(1), 81‑87. https://doi.org/10.1300/J064v07n01_07
Merot, A., Alonso Ugaglia, A., Barbier, J.-M., & Del’homme, B. (2019). Diversity of conversion strategies for organic vineyards. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 39(2), 16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-019-0560-8
Moulin, C.-H., Ingrand, S., Lasseur, J., Madelrieux, S., Napoléone, M., Pluvinage, J., Thénard, V., 2008. Comprendre et analyser les changements d’organisation et de conduite de l’élevage dans un ensemble d’exploitations : propositions méthodologiques, in: Dedieu, B., Chia, E., Leclerc, B., Moulin, C.-H., Tichit, M. (Eds.), L’élevage en mouvement. Flexibilité et adaptation des exploitations d’herbivores. Quae, p. 3.
Wezel, A., Casagrande, M., Celette, F., Vian, J.-F., Ferrer, A., & Peigné, J. (2014). Agroecological practices for sustainable agriculture. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 34 (1), 22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-013-0180-
| Keywords | Change of practices ; Trajectory ; Transitional pathway ; pesticide use ; vineyard ; ESR |
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