DEPARTMENT GESTAD

Director Adam VANBERGEN Director of Research INRAE Tel : 03.80.69.31.87 adam.vanbergen@inrae.fr

The GestAd cluster brings together more than 40 permanent positions (INRAE, Insitut Agro, UBFC, UB) covering expertise in plant and insect ecology, spatial ecology, biogeochemical cycles, global change, social sciences, agronomy, crop systems and agri-equipment.

Our objective is to produce knowledge that can be mobilised for the sustainable management of agriculture, with a particular focus on minimising synthetic chemical inputs and maintaining agricultural production through agroecological practices that control weeds and pests, restore beneficial biodiversity and ensure the provision of ecosystem services (biological regulation, pollination services).

At the core of our mission are multidisciplinary approaches combining plant and insect ecology, weed biology and genetics, landscape ecology, modelling, agronomy, social sciences and cultural and technical innovation for agricultural systems.

The research is being developed around three major issues:

•  Understanding and predicting the effects of cropping systems and their organisation in landscapes on the evolution, adaptation and structure of weed populations and communities.

•  Increase knowledge on biotic interactions between weeds and other organisms in the agroecosystem to better characterise their role in agroecosystem functioning (agricultural production, biological control, pollination) and response to environmental changes.

• Co-develop and evaluate innovative farming systems for sustainable agriculture and understand the societal levers and obstacles for their implementation

The GESTAD Department is organized into four teams:

-          COMPARE Weeds communities, landscape and trophic networks

-          SYSTEME Integrated weed management with a systemic approach

-          E2A2 Ecology and Evolution of weeds

-          Precision Agriculture