Participate to INRA 2014 - scientific priorities in agronomy, research and environmental organic farming

Towards sustainability in Food Consumption.


There is a need to go further into the concept of “sustainable food” and conceptualize which dimensions or criteria that are important when defining sustainability. In order to implement the concept of sustainable food, it seems valuable to use a geographical region as case. The different food system stakeholders will be able to contribute in defining what kind of food is sustainable for their region within the frames of what we can tell is sustainable from the conceptualization process.

Another partly overlooked dimension is the gap between knowledge and action towards sustainability. Knowing more about what is sustainable food consumption will not necessarily lead to more sustainable food consumption practices. Study in this area would be vital to the more Global question of Food and Environmental issues.

COMMENTS ON THE INRA CONSULTATION MEMORANDUM
Proposed scientific priorities for 2010-2014

It is a comprehensive document dealing with major scientific goal of INRA on agriculture, food and nutrition and the environment. The document is a systematic approach to face current and future global research questions that should position INRA as one of the major forces in agricultural research worldwide.
Below, please find the comments on the scientific priorities.

Thematic priorities:
Priority 1: Integrate economic, social and environmental performance of agriculture
Good holistic approach to tackle key issues of agro-forestry systems and that of rural development. However, an enormous interdisciplinary approach is required to attain the research questions considered.
Priority 2: Environmental risks and ecosystems services
It is a very actual and important priority. There is an increasing worldwide concern on the research questions address in this document, which seems appropriate for the time planned.
Priority 3: Food transitions
A very ambitious research questions - of high interest - are considered. To achieve all these important goals it seems necessary to establish a strong interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach, which seems to be guarantee throughout the national alliance with AVIESAN. Otherwise, it would be difficult to accomplish all of them.
Priority 4:Renewable carbon for chemistry and energy
The two research questions formulated intend to respond issues related to an increasing concern on biomass production for non-food uses. Though, they are very ambitious and need a dynamic interdisciplinary commitment to be achieved.
Priority 5: Agriculture and climate change
Excellent horizontal approach that address a key global challenge, such as adaptation and mitigation of agricultural systems to climate change. The research questions proposed seem feasible.



General priorities:

Priority 6: Reinforce prediction capacities in biology and ecology
It is really needed to increase capacity for modeling and prediction of biological and ecological systems, though the success of the very ambitious research questions considered will need a strong interdisciplinary effort, which might be warranty by the expected collaboration with INRIA.

Priority 7: Seek systemic and territorial consistencies for global food security
The general importance of this scientific priority is undeniably, but its justification seems a bit vague. The research questions are well formulated but difficult to carry out as they are too broad for the time expected.

Estoy disfrutando mucho de sus excelentes escritos. Es realmente admirable que personas como vosotros seais capaces de hacer tanto bien por el cultivo de la tierra.
Gracias por sus aportaciones y estudios, por su contribución en la práctica de la agricultura y la jardinería.