Ferme du Domaine de Graux

Info

Expoitation agricole biologique, engagée dans un projet pilote d'agro-écologie et de collaboration participative dans la gestion des terres et des vergers.

Geschiedenis

An arable farm collaborating with several micro-farms: an agroecological model for tomorrow's agriculture?

Keywords: Agroecology in action, linking cities with their hinterland, citizen/farmer relationships, job creation, collaborative economy, healthy food, paradigm change.


The Graux Estate (Tournai, Belgium) was a conventional arable farm of about 100 ha in 1990th. Since then, the estate evolved from conventional to conservation agriculture, then to organic farming and finally to agroecology. Recently, it adopted a set of agroecological techniques, diversified its practices and its productions, and is creating jobs by leaving room for the establishment of micro-farms on the estate. Production is now based on a maximum use of biodiversity, in all aspects from soil to system level, for providing a large range of ecosystem services increasing productivity and resilience of the system. The project does not only develop innovative technical solutions, but has also social and societal goals.

In addition to the adoption of farming practices prescribed by official organic specifications, a set of innovative techniques were adopted or are about to be implemented. All aspects of the farming system are based on a maximum use of biodiversity from soil food webs to the general structure of the farm. The objective is to design and develop a soil and self-sufficiency minded agriculture. Industrial crops such as sugar beet were abandoned as well as monocultures. In order to restore soil life, and especially soil fungi, earthworms and carabid beetles, tillage was abandoned in 2014. Temporary grasslands and living mulches were introduced for fixing nitrogen, controlling weeds and diseases, storing carbon, feeding soil life and improving soil structure. Living mulches sown after crop harvest in summer are rolled in October or March before winter or spring crops respectively. New crops are sown through this mulch carpet with a disk seeder. Long crop rotations were put in place; about a half of the cropping pattern is occupied by complex mixtures of temporary grasslands. Soil fertility is also sustained by systematic use of farmyard manure compost. Ramial Chipped Wood (RCW) (Lemieux & Lapointe 1986) will soon be applied in the perspective of restoring soil fungi populations. In general terms, farming practices aim at collaborating with microbes for soil fertility and disease control: efficient strains of Rhizobium were introduced, bacteria and fungi from diverse types of compost will be regularly extracted by the preparation of compost tea and spread on soil and crop foliage (Ingham 2005). A dense network of narrow herbaceous strips has been implemented. They divide former plots in strips of about 60 m wide. This ecological infrastructure is designed for ensuring high population levels of natural enemies of crop pests and diseases (Wright et al. 2013). Modern dwarf cultivars of cereals are abandoned. They are not competitive toward weeds and their rooting system is supposed to be too shallow for optimum water and nutrient uptake. New ideotypes of crops are adopted, including ancient cultivars and those produced recently by participatory breeding (Witcombe et al. 1996). Rustic livestock breeds are introduced for diversifying productions and income sources, and improving nutrient cycles (Wezel & Peeters 2014). Animals will be mainly or exclusively fed on grass. Mixed grazing, tannin-rich forage plants and long-cycle rotational grazing are the main tools of the strategy of internal parasite control.

The societal component of the project consists in providing balanced and healthy food to local households and reconciling them with farmers. It aims to changing the paradigm of intensive agriculture by providing a large selection of food to local citizens instead of producing a small number of specialized crops or animal products for agrofood industries. The estate and the associated micro-farms will provide food in the form of ‘baskets’ (Commonly Supported Agriculture) (Cone & Myhre 2000), or on a web site, or by direct selling of products. The range of food products will correspond to a balanced diet described in the food guide pyramid of Houlbert (2008) that is itself based on the guidelines of the Paleolithic regime (Konner & Eaton 2010).
Training on agroecology will be provided for different types of audience. This action will be based on three principles: (i) pleasant and playful activities inspired by grape-harvest, (ii) bringing together people with similar values and objectives for developing social networks, and (iii) technical training on agroecological techniques.

The project has also a social component. Entrepreneurs have the opportunity to develop viable micro-farms that collaborate with each other and with the estate. A dairy goat farm is already in place. Other micro-farms will be installed in the future such as market gardening, fruit production and processing as well as diverse livestock farms for high quality meat and dairy products. This collaborative economy type (Henton & Melville 1997) wants to optimise synergies for nutrient cycling, production, marketing and promotion of products and definition of strategies for instance. A cooperative will include all farm activities and a new legal structure. This structure is under development with the support of the NGO ‘Terre en Vue’ (http://www.terre-en-vue.be/) and a notary specialised in rural legislation. It will be completed by an environmental easement.

The Estate is a living laboratory. It is based on a farmer participatory research and is clearly involved in action (Peeters et al. 2013). This holistic approach is sustained by analytical researches developed by several teams on specific topics. Action and research are thus progressing in parallel. Action is oriented by our present knowledge of biological, economic and social processes. Knowledge gaps are filled up by expert knowledge and common sense, and hypothesis-supporting actions are tested by research. This choice is preferred to long-lasting researches followed by subsequent implementations in farm conditions. The size of the Estate and the fact that all plots are grouped in one block constitute a rare opportunity for researches at all scales, from systemic approaches to the ecology of insect species for instance. The project benefits from the support of neighbouring farmers. Their technical knowledge is an asset for reaching the objectives. The experimental farm of the Graux Estate is open to all stakeholders (e.g. researchers, NGO, farmer advisory service) who are ready to bring their expertise to the success of the process.

References
Cone C.A. and Myhre A. (2000) Community-Supported Agriculture: A Sustainable Alternative to Industrial Agriculture? Human Organization 59, 2: 187-197.
Henton D. and Melville J.G. (1997) Grassroots Leaders for a New Economy: How Civic Entrepreneurs Are Building Prosperous Communities. Jossey-Bass Ed.: 244 pp.
Houlbert A. (Dir.) (2008) La meilleure façon de manger. Thierry Souccar Editions: 352 p.
Ingham E.R. (2005) The Compost Tea Brewing Manual (Fifth Edition). Soil Foodweb Incorporated: 79 pp.
Konner M. and S.B. Eaton (2010) Paleolithic Nutrition, Twenty-Five Years Later. Nutrition in Clinical Practice 25, 6: 594-602.
Lemieux G. et Lapointe R.A. (1986) Le bois raméal et les mécanismes de fertilité du sol. Laval University, Quebec, Canada: 17 pp.
Peeters A., Dendoncker N. and Jacobs S. (2013) Enhancing ecosystem services in Belgian agriculture through agroecology: a vision for a farming with a future. Chapter 22. In ‘Ecosystem Services. Global Issues, Local Practices’ Jacobs S., Dendoncker N. and Keune H. (Eds). Elsevier: 285-304.
Wezel A. and Peeters A. (2014) Agroecology and herbivore farming systems – principles and practices. In ‘Forage resources and ecosystem services provided by Mountain and Mediterranean grasslands and rangelands’ Baumont R., Carrère P., Jouven M., Lombardi G., López-Francos A., Martin B., Peeters A. and Porqueddu C. (ed.). Options Méditerranéennes: Série A, Séminaires Méditerranéens 109, Zaragoza, CIHEAM: 753-767.
Witcombe J.R., Joshi A., Joshi K.D. and Sthapit B.R. (1996) Farmer Participatory Crop Improvement. I. Varietal Selection and Breeding Methods and Their Impact on Biodiversity. Experimental Agriculture 32, 4: 445-460.
Wright H.L., Ashpole J.E., Dicks L.V., Hutchison J. and Sutherland W.J. (2013) Enhancing Natural Pest Control as an Ecosystem Service: Evidence for the Effects of Selected Actions. University of Cambridge, Cambridge: 106 pp.