Transcript Communication nationale INRA

XIX EURAGRI Members Conference
The Knowledge Challenge:
Research and Innovation
François Houllier
INRA, Scientific Director for Plant and Plant Products
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
The Knowledge Challenge: Research and Innovation
1
ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
Outline
Difficulty
to cover such a wide topic, at the crossroads
of the evolution of agriculture per se
 of global social, economic and environmental changes
 of the progress of science and technology

A sample
of ‘research challenges’ from three types
generated by the joint dynamics of agriculture, societies and environment
 related to the inner ‘natural’ scientific and technological trends
 resulting from changes in the organization of R&D systems

York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
The Knowledge Challenge: Research and Innovation
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
‘Global’ context and trends
 Agriculture

Trade of agricultural products


as a major policy and economic issue
Europe is a major exporter and the first importer of agricultural products
Demographic pressure and the need to feed the world population
Increased competition for arable land in some countries
 Need to increase the productivity and competitiveness of agriculture

 Other
agriculture-related megatrends
Urbanization changes ‘our’ relationship to Nature and to rurality
 An increasing aversion to risks: cf. ‘precautionary principle’
 From quantity towards quality and safety of food and agricultural products
 Changes in, and variability of diet regimes
 Environmental changes

York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
The Knowledge Challenge: Research and Innovation
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
Environmental changes
 Global
changes …
Land use and land use changes
 Climatic changes
 Atmospheric pollution
 Biological invasions



…

including emerging animal and plant diseases
Overexploitation of renewable resources
but also local and diffuse changes such as pollutions
including those related to agriculture
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
The Knowledge Challenge: Research and Innovation
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
Living Beyond Our Means?
 Observed
and predicted decline of resources and of ecosystem services
(http://www.millenniumassessment.org/)
Threats to natural renewable resources …
 … that are either affected by agriculture (and/)or key factors for the development thereof


genetic diversity, water, …
 Predicted

Opportunities for agriculture


decline of fossil energy resources
if a good link is established between producers and industries
Renewed research questions
In engineering sciences, biology and genetics …
 … but also in agronomy, ecology, economy and social sciences (systemic approaches)

York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
The Knowledge Challenge: Research and Innovation
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
The need to jointly consider the evolution …
…
of the agricultural systems
 … of the food systems
 … and of the environment
Natural and cultivated ecosystems
 Biodiversity and (renewable) natural resources (soil, water, air, etc.)

York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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ALIMENTATION
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… and to articulate and couple various approaches
 Biophysical

of the structure, diversity, functioning and dynamics of cultivated and natural ecosystems
 Technical

and technological approaches
of agricultural systems, of their production and products
 Territorial,

approaches
social and economic approaches
of agricultural activities and of their insertion in the society
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
1st challenge: agriculture and sustainable development
 From
‘sustainable agriculture’
to ‘agriculture as a component of sustainable development’

Agriculture as a component of a larger system
 Three

New questions, new topics linked to sustainability issues


e.g. incorporation of risk analysis into the economic assessment of agricultural systems
Sustainable development as a new research object per se


standpoints for research
e.g. joint appraisal of the immediate and long-term environmental, social and economic
performance of agricultural systems; trade-off analysis
Sustainable development as a driver for renewing research practices and relationships
between science and action

e.g. the focus on innovation (cf. Lisbon Strategy “Innovation as the motor for economic
change”) leads to new ways of doing research


Products, processes, organizations, marketing
Management and impacts of innovation (systemic approaches)
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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ALIMENTATION
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ENVIRONNEMENT
Changes in, and variability of diet regimes
 Long-term
evolution of food energetic inputs in France
80%
3500
Total
70%
Glucides
Calories/person/day
3000
60%
Cereals – Starchy food
2500
50%
2000
40%
1500
30%
Lipids
1000
20%
Animal products – Fruits and vegetables
500
0
1780
Fat – Sugar
10%
Proteins
0%
1800
1820
1840
1860
1880
1900
1920
1940
1960
1980
1780
1800
1820
1840
1860
1880
1900
1920
1940
1960
1980
2000
Source: J.-C. Toutain, FAO-STAT
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
Changes in, and variability of diet regimes
 With

links with human health and epidemiology
E.g. variation of
obesity among countries
Japan (2001)
3,2
Korea (2001)
3,2
Norway (1998)
6
Switzerland (1997)
6,8
Italy (2000)
8,6
France (2000)
9
Austria (1999)
9,1
Sweden (2001)
9,2
Netherlands (2001)
9,3
9,5
Denmark (2000)
Ireland (1999)
10
Finland (2001)
11,4
Poland (1996)
11,4
Germany (1999)
11,5
Belgium (2001)
11,7
12,4
Iceland (2002)
12,6
Spain (2001)
12,8
Portugal (1999)
Czech Republic (2002)
14,8
Canada (2001)
14,9
16,2
Slovak Republic (1998)
17
New Zealand (1997)
Hungary (2000)
19,4
20,8
Australia (1999) a
22
United Kingdom (2001) a
24,2
Mexico (2000)
United States (1999) a
30,9
0%
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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5%
10%
ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
15%
20%
25%
30%
35
Source : OECD 2003
2nd challenge: diet transitions and the focus on consumer
 Links
between diet and lifestyle
 Links with demographic and epidemiological transitions
Colon Cancer, Stroke, Coronary Heart
Disease, and Type II Diabetes Potentially
Preventable by Life-Style Modifications
From: Willett, WC. Science 296:696, 2002.
York, 22-24/09/2005
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Diet transitions and the focus on consumer (2)
 ‘From

More emphasis on food safety and on food quality
 Food

fork to farm’
and diet as complex systems
The necessity to avoid naïve views
Courtesy X. Leverve (INRA, DS NHSA)
York, 22-24/09/2005
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A few scientific and technological trends
 High
throughput biology
 Ecological in situ observations and experiments
 Computer sciences and modeling
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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High throughput biology
 From
genomics to metabolomics
 Large international genome sequencing consortia
 Bioinformatics as a major component
 New
 The
investigation techniques (in situ cell imagery, …)
need of dedicated biological and genetic resources
Natural resources
 Mutants

York, 22-24/09/2005
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AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
Data
Bases
3rd challenge: towards integrative biology
 Genomics
are in a highly productive, but still descriptive phase
 There is a strong need to develop integrative biology

Horizontal integration
From the gene to the function and back using exhaustive data
 Linking quantitative and molecular genetics


Vertical integration (systems biology)
Up- and down-scaling across organization levels
 Strong need of models


Transversal integration

Comparative approaches across species
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
Ecological in situ observations and experiments
 The
capability to trace the in situ
functioning of ecosystems
Greenhouse controlled experiments
 Isotopic techniques

In controlled systems
 In natura


Climatic tunnels (courtesy J.-F. Soussana, INRA, Clermont-Ferrand)
Long-term ecological experiments
 Population
genetics and
evolutionary biology

From ‘neutral’ to ‘selected’ markers
Canopy crane research facility in Oregon
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A FACE system in New Zealand (courtesy J.-F. Soussana, INRA, Clermont-Ferrand)
ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
4th challenge: biodiversity ↔ ecosystem functioning
 Assessing
biodiversity, at various scales and levels of life organization, as a
driver and/or as an indicator of ecosystem functioning, or per se
Inventories
 Functional role of biodiversity
 Impacts of agriculture

 Understanding

Monitoring


and controlling biodiversity dynamics
The need of long-term experiments and of links with large-scale operational surveys
Impacts of agriculture (and of other human activities)

The need of models and of experiments
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
Information sciences and technologies, and modeling
 Spatial

representation of ecosystems
GIS & Remote Sensing
 Systemic

approaches of complex situations
UML models
 Bioinformatics

Databases, data mining, algorithms, …
 Models
of networks
Gene regulation
 Metabolic functioning
 Ecological food web networks, …

 Simulation

systems
Virtual plants, crops, landscapes, …
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
The Knowledge Challenge: Research and Innovation
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ALIMENTATION
AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT
5th challenge: complex systems
 Conceptualization

Many elements and many interactions
 Data

of systems
management
Organization and storage of, and access to, very large (massive) and distributed datasets
 Capability
to model networks of interactions and retroactions
The need of analytical tools
 The need of models and data

 The
capability to integrate knowledge into simulators
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
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ALIMENTATION
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6th challenge: ‘Knowledge economy’ and agriculture
 Linking

research, education and extension
A key for innovation and long-term competitiveness
 Harmonization

of diploma throughout Europe
Bologna, 1998
 Linking
agricultural research organizations to the agricultural higher
education system …

…

Polarization of the research system … and networking
and to the industries and the associated technical R&D centres
Cf. European Technology Platforms
York, 22-24/09/2005
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ALIMENTATION
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Thank you for your attention!
York, 22-24/09/2005
XIX EURAGRI MEMBERS CONFERENCE,
The Knowledge Challenge: Research and Innovation
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AGRICULTURE
ENVIRONNEMENT