The work of the research unit aims to better understand the processes of innovation towards sustainable development in agriculture, agri-food and agro-industry and their conditions for success.
They are to analyze, in an interdisciplinary perspective associating humanities and social sciences, life sciences, earth and environmental sciences and engineering sciences, the innovation processes at work in these sectors at the time of the fundamental changes they are going through.
The scientific project
It is to analyze, from a multi-scale perspective, the innovation processes at work in the agricultural, rural, agri-food and agro-industrial sectors at a time of fundamental change.
Emphasis is placed on the diversity of types of innovations, on the phases of innovation (from the creation of new knowledge to marketing), and on the role of territories as a means of mediation and as a carrier of resources, from the local to the global.

Among the themes developed:
- Socio-technical transition towards sustainable agriculture, managerial innovations in collective CSR initiatives,
- organization of supply in the context of new sectors, in particular the complete use of biomass in new generation biorefineries,
- governance of multi-actor innovation processes in competitive clusters.
The unit thus aims to produce reading and analysis grids useful to public and private decision-makers in their strategic thinking.
The INTERACT team
- ABDIRAHMAN Zam-Zam, associate professor - PhD in management sciences
- ABID Tarek, associate professor - PhD in management sciences, co-holder of the chair "Alliance Agri Avenir"
- ASKRI Amal, associate professor, PhD in economics, holder of the Chair Mutation des filières d'élevages et enjeux sociétaux
- AVILA Joao, associate professor, PhD in management sciences
- BEN OTHMEN Marie-Asma, associate professor, PhD in economics
- BRAULT Nicolas, associate professor - PhD in epistemology, Plant Breeding Chair (mini-CV)
- CEAPRAZ Ion Lucian, associate professor - PhD in economics (mini-CV)
- CHEDRU Marie, associate professor - PhD in management sciences (mini-CV)
- CHERNI-ALOUI Maryem, associate professor - PhD in management sciences, holder of the chair "Alliance Agri Avenir" (mini-CV)
- COMBAUD Anne, associate professor - PhD in geography (mini-CV)
- DANTAN Jérôme, associate professor - PhD in computer science (mini-CV)
- DELHOUME Catherine, associate professor - PhD in sociology
- DUBOIS Michel, associate professor - HDR in philosophy
- ELLILI Yosra, associate professor - PhD in Earth and Environmental Sciences
- FABRI Fabiana, associate professor - PhD in geography and environmental analysis, holder of the UsinoVerT chair
- FOURATI-JAMOUSSI Fatma, associate professor - PhD in management sciences (mini-CV)
- GLOAGUEN Romain, associate professor - PhD in agronomy
- GRANDGIRARD David, associate professor - PhD in agronomy, plant agrophysiology (mini-CV)
- LANTHIER Paul, associate professor - PhD in mathematics
- LECLERCQ Christine, associate professor, agronomist (mini-CV)
LEPELLETIER Patrice, associate professor - PhD in applied mathematics
LEROUX Valérie, associate professor - PhD in management sciences - MEDICI Marco, associate professor, PhD in agrotechnologies, Agro Machinism and New Technologies Chair
- MGHIRBI Oussama, associate professor - PhD in geography and spatial planning
- OSTAPCHUK Mariia, associate professor, PhD in economic sciences
- RAKOTONANDRAINA Nalini, engineer in agro-management
- RANDRIAMAROLO Marie-Rose, research fellow, project manager for the Chair in Risk Management in Agriculture
- SAUVEE Loïc, associate professor - HDR in management sciences (mini-CV)
- TAIBI Salima, associate professor, HDR in mathematical modeling
- YATSKUL Andrii, associate professor - PhD in life sciences, Agro-machinism and New Technologies Chair (mini-CV)
- CHKARAT Houda, doctoral student in management sciences, CIFRE contract Chambre Régionale d'Agriculture de Normandie, Alliance Agri Avenir Chair
- COQUET Célia, doctoral student in sociology/management sciences, CIFRE contract FR Cuma Ouest
- FOURCROY Elena, PhD student in economics, ADEME
- KEFI Souha, doctoral student in agronomic sciences, Agro-machinism and New Technologies Chair
- N'DAH Murielle, PhD student in management sciences, Alliance Agri Avenir Chair
- ROZANES Coline, doctoral student in agronomic sciences / management sciences, CIFRE CAPSO contract
- COURTAUX-KOTBI Gaëlle, PhD in economics
- EL RHABI Mohammed, HDR in applied mathematics, Ecoles Centrales Group
- MARRACCINI Elisa, PhD in agronomic and environmental sciences, University of Udine, Italy
- RAKOTOVAO Miravo, Ph.D. in management sciences, Bioeconomy project manager, CCI Hauts-de-France
- RANDRIANASOLO-RAKOTOBE Hanitra, Doctor of Economics, Senior Lecturer, Université Paris Sud
- RIZZO Davide, Junior Professor, IRD Montpellier
- SNEESSENS Inès, PhD in agronomy and environment, ICEDD, Belgium
Teaching and Research Chairs
The INTERACT unit is involved in eight teaching and research chairs:
The Agro-Machinery and New Technologies Chair responds to the need for manufacturers to anticipate changes in agriculture and new technologies in order to design agro-equipment that is as close as possible to the needs of farmers.
Contact: Andrii Yatskul
Based on the observation that preserving and promoting family farming and agri-food entrepreneurship makes it possible to respond to food, environmental and social issues and, more generally, to issues of sustainable development and land use planning (FAO, 2014), the Alliance Agri Avenir Chair raises questions about the sustainability and durability of family farming and agri-food businesses.
Supported by the InTerACT research unit, and in collaboration with the Crédit Agricole Normandie-Seine, the Normandy Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Valorial competitiveness cluster (and other companies currently being integrated), the work carried out within the Alliance Agri Avenir Chair aims to contribute to the emergence and dissemination of new scientific knowledge for the benefit of family entrepreneurship and the sustainability of territories.
Contact: Maryem CHERNI (Beauvais) and Tarek ABID (Rouen)
It has been noted that the context for livestock production systems is changing rapidly and that they must not only adapt but also anticipate in order to meet new challenges. The projected growth in global demand for food products (meat, dairy products, eggs) and changing diets represent opportunities for the French animal production sector. The actors of the animal sectors are working to meet key challenges: animal welfare, impact on the environment and biodiversity, competition for land use, product origins, innovative breeding models...
The main objective of the Chair will be to identify possible scenarios and the dynamics of past and future transformations of livestock systems and industries, starting with an inventory of existing prospective studies. At the same time, consumer expectations, regulatory changes and the impact of technological and digital innovation will be analyzed. This approach will highlight the major trends and possible scenarios for the evolution of animal production systems in France and internationally.
In a second phase, the Chair will focus on one or more of the themes identified for each of these scenarios. This phase will lead to the establishment of indicators to better understand socio-economic, societal and technological trends. Thus, a finer vision of the current evolutions will allow a better understanding of the conjunctural movements and the structural trends of the consumption and the transformation of the sector, with the objective of a greater reactivity and an increased capacity of anticipation for the actors of the sectors and the breeding systems.
Contact: Amal ASKRI, Chairholder
The objectives of the Chair in Risk Management in Agriculture are to carry out an inventory of risks in agriculture and to build a risk management model in order to provide farmers with new decision-making tools.
Contact: Hanitra RANDRIANASOLO, program coordinator
This chair, launched jointly by UTT, AgroParisTech and UniLaSalle, and led by UTT, has three objectives:
to ensure the sustainability and resilience of diversified agricultural and food systems ;
to reconnect agriculture with the dynamics of the territory
to co-construct and transfer knowledge through trust between farmers and researchers.
Contact: Loïc SAUVÉE
Created in 2017, this chair is the result of a partnership between UniLaSalle and seed companies.
Its objective is twofold:
- Concerning teaching, the aim is to train field breeders capable of integrating the latest technologies developed in plant improvement. This is the major objective of the Plant Breeding Master's degree: since June 2017, this Master's degree has obtained the Erasmus Mundus label, under the name emPLANT, Erasmus Mundus Program in Plant Breeding.
- Concerning research, two axes can be distinguished: axis 1 deals with the integration of new techniques and technologies in plant breeding, and in particular the use of ecophysiological models in breeding, as well as biocontrol techniques; axis 2 deals with the conditions influencing the societal acceptability of scientific progress applied to biology.
Contact: Nicolas BRAULT
For more information on the Chair
This chair, created in November 2021 in partnership with the Lubrizol group, aims to examine the place of industrial activity in the city and to imagine new forms of interaction between the factory and the territory. The aim is to advance knowledge on ecological (soil and environment) and societal (employees and citizens) issues related to industrial activity.
The objective of the Chair is to mobilize interdisciplinary reflection on the place of the factory in the city in a context of climate change and to create a place for meetings and exchanges on approaches and work to better understand the environmental and societal challenges of the factory of tomorrow.
From case studies to scientific concepts, the research is based on the case of the Lubrizol industrial site in Rouen, integrated into the regional (Seine Axis) and global contexts. The work carried out mobilizes the research units InTerACT, AGHYLE and CYCLANN. The InTerACT unit focuses on two axes :
- Industrial site & living place: refunctionalization of the industrial site. Inventing innovative devices for the re-vegetation and reappropriation of nature of a part of the LUBRIZOL site for the employees and beyond for the environment of proximity.
- Industrial site & city & societal issues: from acceptability to citizen appropriability. Analysis of the societal vision of the factory in the city (employees and citizens); recreation of a space for dialogue, exchange and co-construction between citizens, other stakeholders and industrialists.
Contact: Fabiana FABRI, Chairholder.
For more information on the Chair
The creation of the "Agricultural Methanization & Transitions" Teaching and Research Chair marks the coming together of two structures, GRDF, a major player in the distribution of natural gas in France and Europe, and UniLaSalle, a Polytechnic Institute at the heart of the challenges of the ecological and energy transitions, around common objectives: supporting the professionalization of the methanization sector, improving knowledge, and stimulating innovation in order to respond to the challenges of the energy and agro-ecological transition.
Contact: Loïc Sauvée
To find out more about the Chair
Research networks
The Condorcet federative research structure (SFR) was born out of the synergy between researchers from the laboratories of the Universities of Reims Champagne-Ardenne and Amiens Picardie Jules Verne. It is based on the strong desire of researchers from both regions to pool their skills and expertise in the field of agri-resource development, the environment and sustainable development.
The SFR Condorcet, recognized by the CNRS since January 1, 2012, currently brings together 24 public and private research structures. More than 600 research professionals work in this federation. It includes other regional institutions such as UniLaSalle, ESCOM, UTC, Agro Paris Tech, CentraleSupélec, as well as non-academic partners such as ARD (Agro-Industrie Recherches et Développements, in Pomacle) and Extractis (former Centre de Valorisation des Glucides, in Dury). It also extends to the Hauts-de-France region through the "Charles Viollette" regional research institute in agri-food and biotechnology and the Environmental Chemistry and Life Interactions Unit of the Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale.
The objective of the SFR Condorcet is to federate the research activities of the laboratories, whether this research is public or private. To do so, SFR Condorcet's main objective is to help laboratories to develop new collaborative projects.
The transversal axis "Conditions for the emergence of a sustainable bioeconomy"
Within the framework of the 2018-2022 contract, the INTERACT research unit has participated, along with the EA REGARDS (URCA) and the UMR CNRS CURAPP (UPJV) in the establishment of the new transversal axis "Conditions of emergence of a sustainable bioeconomy". Within this framework, the research carried out by the teams focuses on the transitions generated by the bioeconomy in multi-level and multidimensional logics, on the accompaniment of organizational changes and the construction of learning, from the farm to the collectives (agri-food and agro-industrial filières, production basins), as well as on the varieties of ecologically sustainable channels and business models.
The Universities of Technology of Compiègne, Troyes and Belfort-Montbéliard and UniLaSalle took the initiative in 2013 to gather to promote the human and social sciences in engineering environment with the creation of the GIS UTSH.
The objective of the GIS UTSH is to federate the five SHS research teams of four establishments (COSTECH of UTC, Tech CICO and CREIDD of UTT, RECITS of UTBM, INTERACT of UniLaSalle).
These teams start from the fact that the situation of a research in human and social sciences in the context of engineering education has an impact on the structure, the methods and the contents of this research.
Taking the technological phenomenon as the primary object of research; thinking about technology and innovation; participating directly in research and technological development projects: all this poses the challenge of technological and methodological originality in the field of human and social sciences.
The Ingenium network brings together teachers and researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences within engineering training institutions. Its mission is to respond to the new needs that have arisen with the development of research in humanities and social sciences in institutions of higher professional education, in particular to bring together researchers around the new research objects that concern them and to constitute a reference structure in the field.
Organized as an association in June 2006, the network aims to welcome all teachers and researchers who wish to get involved in research collaborations, in France and abroad. The network is an independent organization, free from any ideological or commercial influence.
Its main objectives are to :
- To produce knowledge on the professions, activities and identities of engineers, for the benefit of professional circles (companies, public organizations, training and research centers, etc.).
- To articulate research in social and human sciences with the professionalization of engineers, in particular to produce knowledge for teaching and to provide tools for their didactization.
- To articulate research in SHS and research in engineering sciences, both in terms of the objects studied and the methods.
- To valorize the scientific knowledge produced through publications and events (seminars, study days, colloquia).
- To constitute a relay between the researchers and the organizations for the financing and the valorization of the research
- To constitute a reference research group for researchers working on the themes of the network and a resource for the training of doctoral students.
The Innovation Research Network was created in 2006 at the initiative of researchers in economics and innovation management from several research units in France and around the world.
More than 600 researchers and practitioners, 48 research institutions, 26 countries represented, 10 local authorities, 24 companies.
The Innovation Research Network was created to promote :
- the development of knowledge on the information and knowledge society;
- the intensification of links between the worlds of research and business;
- the analysis of the modes of appropriation of the innovation by the companies;
- the setting up and implementation of specific projects, assistance and advice;
- the distribution of books, magazines (in written or electronic form), newsletters and all types of publications related to the above-mentioned goals.
The STENOR federation - Sciences du Territoire en NORmandie - created in spring 2015 as an interdisciplinary research federation bringing together several researchers from the Normandy region (Rouen, Caen, Le Havre) from several disciplinary fields, aims to study the Normandy territory in all its dimensions.
The merger of the two regions of Normandy opens a new stage in the understanding of regional spaces as well as in the implementation of public policies, whether they are local, regional or national. On the latter scale, a series of recent laws (RCT, MAPTAM, NOTRe, etc.) are guiding regional recompositions in metropolitan France as well as relations between local authorities and State services.
In this doubly unprecedented context, the STENOR research federation aims to understand the geographic mutations of which the Norman spaces are the object. In addition to the fundamental aspect, this research aims to support local decision-making at a time when new scales of decision-making (new municipalities, metropolitan clusters), planning (inter-SCOT federation), regulation (PLU-I) and development (the Normandy Development Agency) are emerging.
This RMT will take over from the RMT Fertilisation et environnement. Plant nutrition and crop production are at the heart of the issue of sustainable agricultural production: establishing strategies that allow the plant to use the nutrients available in the agrosystem, supplemented with the right dose of inputs, while minimizing their use and impacts on the environment.
However, these issues are being profoundly revisited in the light of changes in cropping practices and systems. These changes are induced by (i) the shift to agro-ecology to respond to the challenges of climate change, the preservation of biodiversity, and the quality of environments and food, opening up a growing place for organic farming, conservation agriculture, and agroforestry, (ii) the voluntary transition to the circular economy to adapt to the scarcity of resources, (ii) the voluntary transition to the circular economy to adapt to the scarcity of resources, leading to a wider mobilization of quality fertilizing materials from renewable resources, a better valorization of nutrients from waste of increasingly varied origins, as well as (iii) the diversification of production and valorization methods for organic residues (various composts, digestates from methanization) or minerals (derivatives of "waste-sourced": struvite, biochar...) in the best agronomic, sanitary and environmental conditions.
The RMT BOUCLAGE will carry out interdisciplinary work (particularly in the fields of agronomy, agro-ecology and economics) aimed at 1) understanding the determinants of practices, alone and combined, mobilized for the management of biogeochemical cycles and crop fertilization and in a systemic and anticipatory approach, and 2) to control the environmental and health impacts.
This network was accredited by the Ministry of Agriculture at the end of 2010 for 3 years. A new label was obtained for 5 additional years from 2014 to 2018, renewed for the period 2020-2024. This RMT aims to increase and enhance the knowledge of soils for the sustainable development of rural areas. The newly accredited RMT maintains the initial objectives and emphasizes the 'soil' approach at the plot and farm level.
The RMT "Sols et Territoires" proposes to meet two challenges:
- to know the soils and to give access to the knowledge of the soils in the agricultural and rural territories;
- to improve the consideration of soils in various agricultural, environmental and rural policies, projects and action programs.
Its purpose is therefore to promote the consideration of soils in various themes, with a focus on the cartographic and territorial approach.
This network brings together some thirty partners in research, development and training:
- research institutes ;
- chambers of agriculture and "affiliated" organizations in several regions
- technical institutions;
- a land analysis laboratory;
- development companies and regional association for the valorisation of geographical data;
- a public institution, the CEREMA;
- higher education institutions in agronomy and universities specializing in various fields (geography, planning, law, etc.);
- technical education institutions.
The SPYCE Crop-Livestock Systems Network is coming to an end after 6 years and will be replaced by the SPICEE Network (Structuring and Producing Innovation in Crop-Livestock Systems).
This new RMT will consolidate the work previously carried out and will take on a more important dimension on crop-livestock associations on a territorial scale. A new dimension will be integrated: the circular economy. It will also push the reflection on crop-livestock systems that are very economical in terms of non-renewable resources.
38 organizations are involved (Chambers of Agriculture, technical institutes, agricultural cooperatives, etc.). It brings together zootechnical and agronomic skills, etc.
Research programs
The "TYPTERRES" typology proposes agronomic soil types, based on the Référentiels Régionaux Pédologiques (RRP, from the GIS Sol - Inventaire Gestion et Conservation des Sols). The objective is to understand the agronomic properties of the diversity of soils in a given territory by means of an agronomic soil classification:
- Easily shared within a territory,
- Simple and easy to understand,
- Operational for agronomic advice,
- Complete and homogeneous within a territory.
The typology is the result of a grouping of Soil Typological Units (STU) into "TYPTERRES" Units (STU). The geographic and semantic database of the RRPs is the data source used to construct the "TYPTERRES" units. A set of objective classification criteria are applied to the existing data (RRP). The classification criteria consist of an ordered series of sorts applied to variables describing soil properties at the SWU and stratum levels. The selected properties concern: i) the parent material (geology); ii) the degree of evolution of the profile; iii) the variables of agronomic interest (Coarse Elements, texture, hydromorphy, depth, limestone).
Then another aggregation criterion is the surface of the SWU, determining the "dominant" and "minority" types. The "minority" types can be added to the dominant ones, ignored or aggregated among them or left separate if they have particular characteristics.
In addition, to facilitate a good understanding and identification of what each of the TTUs represents and in particular communication with farmers, the names of the TTUs are associated with the vernacular names used in each territory.
The simplicity and ease of use of TYPTERRES relies mainly on the aggregation of the UTS into UTT, aiming at reducing the number of soil types per department. This reduces the number of soil types from an average of 200-300 to less than 80. The comparison and pooling of some of the TTUs of a territory with those of neighbouring territories leads to a reduction in the total number of TTUs created for the union of these territories.
The operational character of the typology for agronomic advice consists in the description of the TTUs with modal values of quantitative variables and the main values of qualitative variables of agronomic interest. In addition, other variables not present or incomplete in the RRP are calculated or estimated by pedotransfer rules. This is the case, for example, of the Useful Water Reserve. These variables are then used as input data for many Decision Support Tools (DST), establishing, in the long run, an interoperable database between DSTs.
Another asset of "TYPTERRES" is the link maintained with the source of geographic and semantic data, which is the RRP, a national mapping program that will cover the entire French territory by the end of 2018. This source guarantees the richness, quality and homogeneity of the soil description methods taken into account.
Contact : Yosra ELLILI
The DOP' Picardie project (2020-2022) is a FEADER-funded project, part of the Picardie rural development program, led by UniLaSalle (Guénolé BOULCH) and involving 4 major partner networks (Val France, Terres Inovia, the Oise Chamber of Agriculture and farmers). The project's objective is to develop an integrated soybean sector combining security of supply, environmental management and high value-added outlets. In this context, the project aims to provide answers from the field and tested in situ for immediate transferability to three key regional issues:
- "The production and consumption of plant proteins in a territorialized organization"
- "Anticipation, mitigation and adaptation to climate change"
- "Innovative agroecological practices and production methods" ...
The InTerACT team is mainly involved in WP2 on agronomic optimization and WP3 and WP4 of the project on the identification of key success factors for a sustainable territorial anchorage of the soybean sector from an economic and social point of view on the one hand and on the other hand on the organization of the sector and the valorization of a local French production:
- WP2: (led by David Grandgirard) Diversification of rotations and cropping systems to meet the challenges of reducing agri-environmental impacts on natural resources (water and air) imposed by the progressive prohibition of herbicides and expected by farmers as a lever to control weeds in autumn; optimization of cropping practices (densities, spacing, sowing dates, weed management)
- WP3: (led by Catherine Delhoume) Understanding the existing collective dynamics, support for the diffusion of the innovation. Identification of the farmers carrying the innovation and their territorial scope (organizational, geographical, etc.). Identification of the levers of action to be engaged for the diffusion of the innovation and the territorial governance of the innovation.
- WP4: (led by Lucian Ceapraz) Identification with farmers and collectors of innovative outlets (with high added value). Co-construction of economic projects with stakeholders.
Contacts: Lucian Ceapraz, Catherine Delhoume, David Grandgirard
The CasDAR MOCA project aims to develop, with and for farmers, learners and advisors, an approach to assist in the design and ex ante evaluation of agroforestry systems to ensure their sustainability. The tools developed will facilitate the monitoring of projects in the field by operators and farmers themselves.
The project is structured in 5 actions:
- action 1: Co-design process and definition of project constraints and opportunities
- action 2 : Development of the ECOAF / DIAFnostic tool
- action 3 : Multicriteria evaluation tools for FAS and reference systems
- action 4 : Integration of the approach and tools, testing and deployment
- action 5 : Coordination and life of the network
Coordination: GRAB (Organic Agriculture Research Group)
Partners: GAB, INRAE, AGROOF, CFPPA de Die, Chambre D'Agriculture De L'Hérault
Contact: David Grandgirard
An Institute for the Energetic Transition addressing the necessity to create new fields of valorization of the vegetal for industrial purposes in a dynamic of sustainable development, the PIVERT program, carried in particular by the UTC, the IAR cluster and Sofiprotéol, is the only Institute for the Energetic Transition (ITE) on the scale of the territory dedicated to the development of the vegetal chemistry. In this context, the INTERACT team is involved in two projects: MIT1 and AmontBioRaf.
Contact: Loic Sauvée
INTERACT, in collaboration with COSTECH (UTC) and the CREIDD (UTT), is participating in the work module entitled "Bio-refinery: towards an industrial metabolism".
In this project, UniLaSalle and its partners are exploring the question of the economic, institutional and organizational feasibility of the new supply chains of these biorefineries, in connection with the modes of organization of agricultural production, agri-supply, collection and first transformation. The conditions for the constitution of an agro-industrial ecosystem associating agriculture and research and development activities are also addressed. In parallel, the societal dimension is developed through the question of the acceptance of disruptive innovations by the agricultural and rural world, as well as the sociological conditions of the professional transition of the agricultural world.
Contact: Loic Sauvée
The INTERACT team is leading this project with partners COSTECH (UTC), CREIDD (UTT) and CETIOM. The introduction of biorefineries induces in the agricultural upstream a deep rupture because it modifies the roles, the functions and the place traditionally assigned to agriculture. The supply systems are bound to evolve both in terms of the functional contribution of their entities (particularly in an industrial ecology logic) and in their modes of interaction (learning and collective action phenomena).
The project aims to :
- to build a framework of analysis allowing to seize these mutations,
- to outline the perspectives in the form of territorial development scenarios,
- to create approaches and tools for support and development to overcome the constraints and sustain the supply of biorefineries in diversified and competitive biomass.
Contact: Loïc SAUVÉE
Funded by the Tuck Foundation.
The ETHANORG project seeks to assess the impact of the gradual emergence of energy crops on agricultural markets and the organization of production basins. It is divided into two complementary axes that will be treated simultaneously. The first axis seeks to assess the impacts of the liberalization of ethanol markets on trade, French production and competition between food and energy supply, while the second axis focuses on the consequences of the mobilization of energy resources on the functioning and evolution of the ethanol sector in the major French production basins.
Contact: Loic Sauvée
"Prospective diagnosis of the Picardy sugar beet industry"
Financed by the Regional Council of Picardy and conducted in partnership with the University of Picardy Jules Verne and the Brazilian Universities of Rio de Janeiro and Fluminense.
The DIPROBE project aims to analyze the socio-economic impacts that the reform of the European sugar regulation may have on Picardy and to establish scenarios for the evolution of the beet sugar sector that can be used as a decision-making aid for stakeholders.
Contact: Loic Sauvée
European project FP6 financed by the European Commission, led by the University of Copenhagen and which brings together 52 partners (academic, professional, institutional) from 16 European countries and 4 countries outside Europe (USA, China, Brazil, South Africa).
The part undertaken by UniLaSalle researchers includes a grid for reading product differentiation strategies in the pork sector from the point of view of the organizational modes and governance mechanisms implemented, and then associates it with the evaluation of performance levels (financial, commercial, etc.) obtained at different levels of the sector.
Private and public certification brands, cooperative and producer group brands, private labels and industrial brands are studied.
Contact: Loic Sauvée
European project FP7, financed by the European Commission, led by Ghent University in partnership with 8 European universities.
The project, focused on innovation processes in agri-food SMEs, combines scientific research with the development of practical tools for entrepreneurs, network organizations and public policy makers by intervening at two levels: that of the individual firm and that of the network contributing to innovation, by studying the functioning of the latter as a whole and its effects on innovation. The final objective of the project is to increase the learning capacities of agri-food SMEs in terms of innovation.
Contact: Loic Sauvée
Within the framework of the Normandy region's objective contract, the aim of the Innovation Fields project is to accelerate the development of triple performance on Normandy farms by focusing not on the "what" (the production of knowledge) but on the "how": supporting change towards triple performance by relying on three levers of action: sharing and disseminating knowledge, appropriating innovations and developing skills.
The project is structured around 5 operational objectives:
1° Mobilize organizations around the development of agroecology (A multi-partner governance that will ensure the steering of the project (monitoring and evaluation) / Facilitate the emergence of work from the angle of the sector / Organize a space for exchange on new topics in connection with societal expectations in particular)
2° Transfer knowledge (Transfer knowledge in agroecology to as many people as possible / Facilitate the appropriation of innovations / Accompany change / Accompany the implementation of changes on farms by relying on farmer groups and animation methods that allow for a significant involvement of farmers to build the responses best suited to their contexts / Develop the skills of advisors both in terms of technical knowledge and in terms of postures for accompanying change)
4° Exploring the social pillar (Addressing the fields of work organization, managerial and entrepreneurial skills of farmers, as levers of action towards triple performance)
5° Communicate to bring adhesion and positive commitment on agroecology (A concerted and coordinated communication to accompany on the one hand the whole of the actions which will be led on the ground, on the other hand the global piloting of the project)
Project led by the Regional Chamber of Normandy and ACTA Normandy
Contact: Loïc Sauvée
Awareness of the value of grasslands is necessary to arbitrate between the right to turn over and an incentive to maintain or restore them. It implies that we must be able to estimate the economic value of grassland production (in terms of ecosystem services rendered), taking into account the plurality of agricultural practices, the different forms of value-added sectors and the different territories. In order to provide objective elements for estimating the value of grasslands, it is necessary to measure indicators that allow us to attribute use values on the one hand and non-use values on the other hand in order to access their total economic values.
The scientific objective of this project is to answer the following question: What is the economic value of grassland by taking into account (1) the plurality of its dimensions (use and non-use value) and (2) the diversity of scales expected of its valuation?
The operational objectives of the project are as follows
Identify and perfect existing decision support tools for farmers, sector managers (sheep and cattle breeding, terroir products, etc.), professional agricultural organizations (OPA), and local authorities,
To analyze the coherence and efficiency of public incentive strategies for the maintenance of grasslands in Normandy.
Project partners: Parc Naturel Régional des Boucles de la Seine, Chambre Régionale d'Agriculture de Seine Maritime, EPLFPA of Yvetot (76).
Contact: Marie-Asma Ben Othmen
The research-action "Inhabited Valleys" allows us to question the evolution of the landscapes and developments of a rural world abandoned by the peri-urbanization of the large Norman agglomerations and Paris. Its purpose is to mobilize the local system of actors on the programming of appropriate and synchronized actions, in architecture, urbanism, and agriculture, aiming at requalifying the residential and presential economy of the villages located at the bottom of valleys.
The 3 main objectives are the following:
- To put an end to the excessive consumption of natural and agricultural spaces, in favor of urbanization and economic activities in the towns located on the well-served plateaus of the Eure, by reviving the urban and economic dynamics of the inhabited valley bottoms.
- Define the profiles of residents and workers capable of using and developing local resources (buildings/nature/energy).
- Establish the conditions for welcoming these profiles (networks of actors/public policies).
- The stakes are threefold:
- Recycling of the already urbanized land, in particular by encouraging the recycling of the wastelands that line the bottoms of the valleys
- Revalorization of the heritage, in particular by encouraging the rehabilitation of existing housing
- Preservation and restoration of ecological continuity by reinvesting dry hillsides and wet meadows
Project partners: Ecole Nationale du Paysage de Versailles, Ecole Nationale de l'Architecture de Rouen, Conseil de l'Architecture et de l'Urbanisme de l'Environnement 27.
Contact: Marie-Asma Ben Othmen
The Agroforestry Mixed Technology Network (RMT) is a network of nearly fifty partner structures (90 members) from research, training and development, gathered around the theme of agroforestry in France. This network aims to create sustainable links between the network partners for the development of agroforestry.
The general objective is to pool the skills, expertise and other resources of the various partners for the development of agroforestry, in order to develop technical and methodological tools for the establishment and management of agroforestry plots.
The activities of the RMT AgroforesterieS are articulated around 5 actions:
- Creation of a national agroforestry observatory - Networking of stakeholders
- Analysis of the dynamics of appropriation of agroforestry projects - Pooling and exchange of know-how,
- Prospective and coordination for the setting up of R&D projects in agroforestry,
- Tools and resources for setting up and managing local and territorial agroforestry systems,
- Mobilize initial and continuing education, from the CAPA to the engineer.
InTerACT, a founding member of the RMT and historical leader, is in charge of coordinating with the Ariège Chamber of Agriculture the identification, expertise and provision of sufficient tools and information resources necessary for the co-design, evaluation, implementation and management of efficient agroforestry systems (Action 4, now WG 7). Its leitmotiv: to assist the agricultural council as well as the training to have all the assets and to provide complete, integrative training of all the components of the FAS maximizing the chances of success of such innovative agricultural systems. He is also involved in the WG6 dedicated to agroforestry training.
Website : http://www.rmt-agroforesteries.fr/
Contact : David GRANDGIRARD
The HOMTEC project, supported by the Conseil Régional de Picardie, associates the COSTECH laboratory (UTC, pilot of the project, and the INTERACT research unit.
The central objective of this project is to investigate in an epistemological, historical and empirical way the question of the singularity of methods, practices and purposes of research in SHS when it is inscribed in a technological training and research universe.
It is concretized through three axes:
- a historical, sociological and epistemological reflection on the modalities of integration of SHS in engineering education;
- a description of the actual practice of research in SHS in our technological universities and engineering schools;
- an epistemological reflection on some effective and possible relations between research in SHS and innovation, conducted from case studies of past or current projects at UTC and UniLaSalle. This project is part of the activity of the GIS UTSH.
Contact : Loïc SAUVÉE
The INTERACT team is an associated partner in this new RMT led by the Picardy Regional Chamber of Agriculture, accredited for the period 2014/2018. This RMT aims at gathering, capitalizing and disseminating the knowledge already acquired, defining priority lines of investigation, according to the needs of ongoing biomass projects, and building specific joint R&D projects. It will maintain and strengthen a network of multidisciplinary actors, in place since 2008 through the RMT "Biomass Energy". This "Biomass & Territories" network is focused on resolving the complex issues and challenges of biomass sector development.
It is organized around two axes:
- knowledge of the resource, and support for the deployment of the sectors in the territories;
- multi-criteria evaluation of the mobilization and emergence of the sector.
Contact: Loïc SAUVÉE
The PARASOL project (2015-2018) is an ADEME REACCTIF project aiming to elucidate the potential of integrating tree fodder of agroforestry origin into the ration and feed management of sheep farming systems. The objective is twofold: (i) to quantify the feeding possibilities of the studied silvopastoral systems without jeopardizing the current and secondary incomes (tree biomass, landscape amenities, pollination and biodiversity...) and (ii) to draw up scenarios for the use of systemic agroforestry integrated into current livestock systems to optimize their forage autonomy, improve their environmental footprint and known socioeconomic balances. For a climatic and cultural realism of the work undertaken, the work is conducted with a network of 9 farms located in 3 diversified agricultural regions: sheep systems in the Pyrenean Piedmont, mid-mountain systems in Auvergne, and silvopastoral systems on meadow orchards in the northwest.
Within this project, InTerACT and UniLaSalle are working on (1) quantifying the available tree biomass (on ash, apple, maple and walnut trees), (2) the consequences of agroforestry systems on the behaviour and well-being of ewes, and (3) evaluating the overall performance of the farms and the socio-environmental impact of using tree fodder in these systems. Finally, workshops and/or reference farms could be described and proposed as a basis for discussion of possible grassland management or conversion to agroforestry sheep farming.
Website : http://parasol.projet-agroforesterie.net/
Contact : David GRANDGIRARD
The SCA0PEST program (2013-2019) is a DEPHY ECOPHYTO EXPE project financed by the ONEMA (French National Agency for the Environment and Water Management). It aims to design, implement and test innovative cropping systems for which the use of synthetic pesticides, and more particularly herbicides, is restricted in order to comply with the announced Ecophyto 2018 commitments.
While most of the innovative systems tested involve reductions (25 to 75%) in the use of certain pesticide families, some systems have been designed to test the limits of pesticide reduction reasoning and to create references that do not exist outside of organic agriculture. Among these systems, the EXPE Res0pest, Vertical and SCA0PEST programs involve the co-construction with the agricultural world and its practitioners and then the testing of revisited, complex, breakthrough systems. SCA0PEST, an agroforestry cropping system without pesticides, deals more specifically with agronomic risks (soil degradation, production losses, yield quality, continuous adaptation of rotations, mechanical weeding, etc.) and eco-environmental opportunities (C balance, food autonomy, soil protection, ecological connectivity and landscape amenities). Established for 5 years now, it is also a place of intense pedagogical exchanges as well as expert consultation for the continuous adaptation and transfer of experiences and even references produced.
In addition to the new educational modules for farmers in conversion (agroforestry, AB) or in installation, numerous agrotechnical references and improvement paths are proposed to local and agricultural partners and/or published.
Website : https://sca0pest.wordpress.com/about/
Contact : David GRANDGIRARD
In a context of increasing scarcity of fossil resources and global warming, the major challenge for tomorrow's agriculture is to improve the production efficiency of agricultural territories in order to meet the twofold need for sufficient, high-quality food production and a contribution to the production of renewable resources for energy, chemistry and materials, as well as the need to reduce negative impacts on the environment.
To achieve this, the challenge is to produce and mobilize agro-resources at the very place where they will be used, and to support the implementation of bioeconomy sectors in the territories. The bioeconomy is defined here as the economy based on the use of renewable carbon, particularly of agricultural origin, whether for food or non-food purposes. The development of these sectors and their operating methods will lead to changes in reasoning and practices at the farm level but also at the territorial level. Thus, the "IAR Network of Demonstrator Sites" project aims to establish the conditions for mobilizing the agro-resources that feed the bioeconomy sectors, so that they are sustainable and create added value in the territories.
Supported financially by the Commissariat Général à l'Égalité des Territoires (CGET, ex DATAR), the Picardie Region and the ERDF between 2015 and 2020, the project brings together 16 scientific, technical and economic partners from Picardie.
Project led by Agro-Transfert Ressources et Territoires
Contact: Loïc Sauvée
The commonly used methods for calculating the GHG balance of territories do not take into account variations in the carbon stock of agricultural soils, or do so in a flat-rate manner (such as the Climagri tool, Doublet, 2013) and independently of the actual practices of local farmers. However, these variations in stock, whether positive or negative, can contribute significantly to the GHG balance of agricultural activities. In this sense, the 4 for 1000 initiative launched by France aims to study the possibility of offsetting part of the GHG emissions by increasing the organic carbon stock in the soil.
The aim of the project is to make the ABC'Terre approach operational and applicable throughout metropolitan France. This approach makes it possible to design and evaluate strategies for optimizing soil organic carbon management and mitigating the GHG balance of cropping systems on a territorial scale. It is also to allow the appropriation of this approach by its future users.
The objectives of this project are to
- simplify, improve and automate the method of calculating the GHG balance and other links of the method ABC'Terre,
- to make this method prototype operational and transposable to all French agricultural territories,
- prepare the transfer of the method to its future users.
The central result expected at the end of the project is an approach of diagnosis and territorial simulation of carbon flows in agricultural soils (organic carbon storage/CO2 emissions) and GHG emissions of cropping systems within the territories. This approach is intended to be operational, transposable to many French agricultural territories, formalized in a practical way and framed on the technical and legal levels.
The users of the ABC'Terre approach are referent facilitators such as agricultural advisors in the Chamber of Agriculture, who will have been previously trained in the tools that structure the approach. These "ABC'Terre referent" facilitators will deploy the approach for the final beneficiaries, which are the managers of rural territories or local authorities.
Contact : Yosra Ellili
The "DIVERCROP" project (2017-2020), is a European program ARIMNET2, led by INRA Avignon. The project aims to understand the impact of land use change on biodiversity and food supply in the Mediterranean. The INTERACT unit is involved in the co-coordination of the WP2 of the project ("Land system dynamics at the Mediterranean basin level") with the UR EMMAH of INRA Avignon and also participates in the WP4 of the project on the articulation between land use modelling for the whole Mediterranean basin and local case studies.
Contact : Elisa Marraccini
The GeRiCo project (AFB & MAA funding), led by the FNAB, consists in studying a mechanism to cover the risks linked to the adoption of new techniques. It aims to provide organic producers with concrete solutions to avoid contamination and compensate for their economic impact on the farm.
InTerACT is participating in this project through the creation of a working group bringing together producers, insurers, members of the administration and researchers specialized in agricultural risk management. The group will allow to come up with concrete proposals, formalized in a written deliverable.
Contact: Sylvie Lupton
Within the framework of the Normandy region's objective contract, led by the Normandy Regional Chamber and ACTA Normandy, and following the Innovation Fields I project, the purpose of the Innovation Fields II project is to extend the acceleration and development of the triple performance of Normandy farms by relying not on the "what" (the production of knowledge) but on the "how": Accompanying change towards triple performance through three action levers: sharing and disseminating knowledge, appropriating innovations and developing skills.
The project is structured around 4 operational objectives:
- Mobilize organizations around the development of agroecology (A multi-partner governance that will ensure the steering of the project (monitoring and evaluation) / Facilitate the emergence of work from the angle of the sector / Organize a space for exchange on new topics in particular in connection with societal expectations)
- Transfer knowledge (Transfer knowledge in agroecology to as many people as possible / Facilitate the appropriation of innovations / Accompany change / Accompany the implementation of changes on farms by relying on farmer groups and facilitation methods that allow for a significant involvement of farmers to build responses best suited to their contexts / Develop the skills of advisors both in terms of technical knowledge and in terms of postures for accompanying change)
- Exploring the social pillar (Addressing the fields of work organization, managerial and entrepreneurial skills of farmers, as levers of action towards triple performance)
- Communicating in order to bring about positive adhesion and commitment to agro-ecology (concerted and coordinated communication to accompany all the actions that will be carried out in the field on the one hand, and the overall management of the project on the other)
The work of the INTERACT unit is focused on evaluating the transfer of innovation by extending the research mechanism to the three project initiatives, namely the Innovation Forum, the Innovation Open House (POI) and the Prairiales. The objective of the research, centered on a panel of given innovative solutions, is to identify the modalities of innovation transfer and the complementarities between these different interfaces (or devices) of transfer of innovative solutions (Forum, POI, Prairiales). The final objective is to propose an analysis grid for the "multi-channel" transfer of innovative solutions in agriculture.
Contact: Loïc Sauvée
The Soja Made in Normandie (SMN) project aims to develop the organic soybean sector in Normandy via innovative technical itineraries based on agroecological practices (guaranteed GMO-free production, low input approach, and low carbon footprint), creating value for the entire chain (farmers, collectors, industry, consumers).
The SMN project is part of the Regional Plan (issue 1) which is to encourage experimentation and research on plant protein crops adapted to Normandy, to increase their production, with its two priorities of Promoting and supporting R&D and Innovation (RDI) projects that meet the demands of industry operators and the local pedoclimatic context on the one hand, and on the other hand, to encourage the emergence of new productions
The SMN project was built by aggregating the expertise in plant sciences and agronomy of 3 research units (EVA - INRA/University of Caen; UniLaSalle (AGHYLE, INTERACT); Glyco-MEV - University of Rouen), members of the Normandie Végétal Federative Research Structure (FED4277), the Terres Inovia technical institute, the Normandy Chamber of Agriculture (CRAN), agricultural cooperatives (Agrial, Coopérative de Creully) and 2 companies (Agrauxine by Lesaffre, Via Végétale).
The UniLaSalle team, through the INTERACT and AGHYLE units, is involved in several of the project's actions respectively:
- Action 1 on the analysis of the development potential of soybean cultivation in the Normandy Region & evaluation of soybean varieties adapted to the Normandy pedoclimatic contexts as lead partner with Terres Inovia
- Action 2 on the optimization of practices to promote the establishment of symbiosis and the establishment of the crop as leader with Glyco-MEV
- Action 3 on the optimization of mineral nutrition (P, S, Fe) in interactions with atmospheric nitrogen fixation during the post-planting development phases and also
- Action 5 on project coordination, communication and valorization
This project will have several expected impacts in terms of economic, societal and environmental sustainability criteria.
Contacts: Elisa Marraccini and Loïc Sauvée
One of the main challenges of this project will be to evaluate the impact of cropping systems (SoC) with farmers on the main agronomic services (soil fertility, high and constant biomass production and reduction of bio-aggressors), environmental services (reduction of inputs and autonomy of fertilization, reduction of GHG emissions and carbon sequestration, reduction of IFT) and economic services, in particular the production of constant biomass at low cost This new knowledge will allow the formulation of evaluation indicators that will be integrated into a sustainable SoC design approach to feed the methanization sectors.
The project will be carried out in order to inform the decisions of farmers in Hauts-de-France at several levels:
- For farmers already supplying a methanizer: help with crop choices and rotations to develop sustainable cropping systems to ensure secure supply
- For farmers considering the development of agricultural methanization: demonstrate that the development of methanization can be conceived in a sustainable way,
- For farmers developing an anaerobic digestion project: help with crop rotation choices in managing the supply of the anaerobic digestion unit,
- For farmers raising cattle who wish to choose the intermediate crop according to the needs of both the methanization unit and their herd;
- For the beneficiaries of the produced bioenergy wishing to reduce the cost of the inputs of the methanization and the financers of the methanization projects which need quantified and reliable data to constitute the files of financing.
FEADER financing
With Chambre Régionale d'Agriculture and Agro Transfert Ressources & Territoires
Contact: Elisa Marraccini and Olivier Rey
The ORBE project aims to create a monitoring tool for territorial biomass in order to improve the evaluation of available resources and knowledge of their use in order to feed the bioeconomy portal of the Hauts de France region in relation with the IAR cluster. It aims to provide the necessary answers to support project leaders who wish to have access to biomass in the region. Starting with agricultural biomass, it proposes to standardize methods for spatializing deposits and projects, and characterizing biomass flows.
Financing FRATRI (Regional Fund for the 3rd Industrial Revolution)
With Coop de France HdF, Chambre Régionale d'Agriculture and Agro Transfert Ressources & Territoires
Contact: Loïc Sauvée
Led by the Transformations and Agroressources research unit (UniLaSalle), the LENEFIN project is the creation of a 100% Normandy flax-based perfume: fragrance and secondary packaging. The Normandy flax-based project will work on the whole plant.
The InTerACT unit is dedicated to two modules:
- Appreciation of the main cost elements of this sector and evaluation of the relationships between direct costs, and induced costs and benefits. The environmental dimension will be appreciated from a study of the image of ecoproducts (packaging in particular):
- Approach of costs and benefits: experimental economy approach from observation data on existing sectors (perfume, packaging);
- Eco-environmental analysis: advantages in terms of image and environmental impact.
- Organizational methods necessary for the implementation of these new sectors, from the point of view of the value chain, starting with the offer to customers (industrialists) and final consumers (business to consumer). This work module proposes, as an extension of the study, to provide some elements of commercial/marketing actions.
Financing RIN (Normandy Region)
Contact: Loïc Sauvée
The AMELECA project is part of the SFR Condorcet's thematic axis 4 entitled "Conditions for the emergence of a sustainable bioeconomy". On the one hand, the project aims to characterize the French hemp industry from a socio-economic approach. On the other hand, it aims to confront this sector with its potential future markets, the emergence of which would be triggered by the legalization of cannabis in France, in other words by the possibility of producing, selling, holding and consuming hemp with a high tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content. By questioning the main operating logics of the industry through the prism of this major legal evolution, the project's objective, through this exploratory study, is to determine the capacity of the industry's actors to respond to these new demands while identifying the organizational changes that they would imply. The aim is to find out whether these outlets constitute new avenues for green growth in the French hemp industry and whether they are compatible with existing economic models.
With UPJV -CURAPP and URCA-REGARDS
Financing SFR Condorcet
Contact : Loïc Sauvée
This project, led by Stéphane Desobry (LIBio, University of Lorraine) and Bernard Kurek (FARE, University of Reims Champagne Ardenne), focuses on three major plant resources of the Grand-Est region (hemp, hops, oilseeds) to enable maximum recovery in a circular economy requirement.
This research project, which combines fundamental and application aspects, covers the entire value chain: production, fractionation, purification of biomolecules, development of biomaterials, energy recovery, and soil improvement. The models that will be developed will make it possible to define a "reference" approach for a bioeconomic system at the national level that can then be used for other sectors.
In each value-added system, common or specific scientific obstacles need to be overcome; this is the challenge that a very complete consortium federating the vast majority of research players in the region's agronomic and agri-food plant sector will attempt to meet. Thus, new methods of resource selection, innovative fractionation methods (e.g. steam explosion), new functionalization methods for materials (click chemistry), new purifications of biomolecules of interest, and new valorisation processes will be obtained.
The hundred or so researchers in the project and the associated infrastructures will make it possible to understand a territorialized bioeconomic system with complementary approaches at the scientific and technical levels.
Finally, the industrialists of the bioeconomy sector will be essential actors in order not to lose sight of the objectives and the socio-economic impact that we want to give to the project. The training of new generations of professionals will also be involved through projects and internships to transmit our multidisciplinary approach and give them the desire to invest in the emerging sector of the regional bioeconomy.
Within the framework of this project, the INTERACT unit is more specifically interested in two themes:
- Agricultural identities and new stakeholders in the face of bioeconomic transition.
The research will aim, through a longitudinal approach, to see how the representations and effective roles of actors evolve over time, in particular in relation to their professional practices and their interfaces of influence (media, social networks, etc.). We will seek to better understand the evolution of controversies specific to the bioeconomy and how they are shaped. - New business models of the bioeconomy and the place of farmers in the value chain.
The research develops a systemic perspective on agricultural value chains in the bioeconomy (especially hemp), risk representation; agronomic, economic and environmental performance approaches, and aims to propose a typology of new business models that are being implemented in the bioeconomy. The focus will be on the place of the agricultural sector, both in the governance and contractual arrangements and in its role in the creation and capture of value.
Contact : Loïc Sauvée
Access all the publications of the INTERACT unit on Google Scholar.