En Pratique – Centre National d'Agroécologie

In practice

Discovering for each production

Crops

Implement conservation agriculture.
Choose and implement companion crops.
Logic-organic weeding.
Permanently cover the soil with plants, produce all year round.
No-till methods and direct seeding under cover crops.
Tree planting to regulate rainfall and increase biomass production.

In our gardens and for market gardeners

A lazy gardener for an abundant production
Stop the digging, hoeing, hilling.
Regain living soils.
Cover the ground with straw, hay, wood chips, wood waste, green waste and cover crops in the winter in order to weed easily, and re-create the fertility circle.
Feed the ecosystem to naturally regulate pests.
Planting fruit trees to protect and shade the vegetables and to add to the farm's general production.

Animal husbandry

Healthy soils for healthy plants for healthy animals to humans in good health
Producing protein-rich forages that allow for self-sufficiency on the farm through the use of meslin, giant cover crops or simply good management of grasslands through dynamic rotational grazing.
Planting trees to protect and feed animals.

In tree and vine growing

To restore the fruit tree and the vine's good health by nourishing the soil
Let the vegetation cover grow as much as possible while respecting the cycles of the tree or vine and the periods of intervention.
Eliminate tillage and limit inputs.
Produce biodiversity by feeding it permanent flowers to naturally regulate pests.
Plant trees and hedges to maintain biodiversity and bioclimatic protection.

Increase the biogenic carbon cycle

Sustainability is reached when the farm's carbon balance is positive. To achieve this, it is essential to increase the endogenous carbon production.

For example, each year a cereal farmer produces about 10 tonnes per hectare, almost exclusively made of carbon !
To achieve soil self-fertility, the farmer must produce 20 tonnes per hectare of biomass through plant cover, straw returns and agroforestry. By re-establishing this carbon balance, we can also recreate self-fertility in the environment.