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All the news
Experimental installation: productive rooftops, the Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food and Environmental Sciences - AgroParisTech, Paris © Baptiste Grard

Press release

20 Dec 2017

Installing rooftop vegetable gardens for sustainable cities

From producing food to regulating water runoff, urban agriculture has a lot to offer. Scientists from INRA and AgroParisTech have shown that rooftop vegetable gardens are an interesting way to recycle urban waste, produce food, and retain rainwater.

Cover of Agroecological Crop Protection © Quae & Springer

Just published

05 Sep 2017

Agroecological Crop Protection

This book reviews the principles of agroecology and how they can be applied to crop protection. The authors analyse several participative experiments carried out in the context of temperate or tropical agriculture.

Fallow land in northern France (Beaulieu). © INRA, WEBER Jean

Press release

14 Feb 2017

Biodiversity when restoring soil through fallowing: stronger interactions among organisms, increased carbon uptake in soil

As a part of the EU’s EcoFINDERS project, led by INRA, researchers studied changes in soil biodiversity when using fallowing as a restoration strategy. The findings, published in Nature Communications, demonstrate that connections between groups of soil organisms increased, and this was accompanied by increased carbon uptake in the soil. Understanding these phenomena should help identify agricultural practices which favour carbon transfer and storage in soils.

Honeybee on a peach blossom. © INRA, Nicolas Morison

Press release

10 Feb 2017

Winter colony survival: flowering catch crops and natural wooded habitats improve honeybee health

A study that brought together INRA, ACTA and ITSAP-Institute de l’abeille investigated the physiological mechanisms involved in overwintering survival in honeybees. Researchers demonstrated that vitellogenin, a protein with antioxidant properties, is associated with a 30% increase in the probability of overwintering survival.

Overview of the long-term experimental facility, the 42-plot experiment, which was set up in 1928 at the INRA Research Centre in Versailles. Its initial objective was to determine the effects of prolonged applications of the principal nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium-based fertilizers, as well as organic and liming materials, on the composition and physical properties of wind-borne deposits of loamy soils, characteristic of the Paris region and northern France.  The facility also plays an important role in recording environmental quality (accumulation and fate of atmospheric fallouts of metallic micropollutants and radioelements). The ongoing experiment involves the regular collection and archiving of soil samples.. © INRA, CROUZET Olivier

News

14 Oct 2016

Long-term effects of fertilizers on soils: the 42-plot experiment

The 42-plot experiment, created in 1928 at INRA’s Research Centre at Versailles (France) aims at assessing the impacts of continuous application of fertilizers and amendments on the composition and structure of silty soils. The long-term trial and its historical soil sample collection are unique in the world and offer outstanding opportunities for current environmental research.