Agroecological transition: creation of the Bio4Solutions Chair
Alain Hehn
As the international year of plant health opens in 2020, a Chair dedicated to the implementation of new solutions to reduce the use of synthetic inputs was launched in January 2020 at ENSAIA.
The chair is part of an evolution in agronomic practices. Many indicators, whether societal, political and scientific, are in favour of this strategy (Ecophyto Plan to reduce dependence on inputs; positioning of the Grand-Est region in the Bioeconomy sectors; prevalence of biocontrol affirmed by CRAGE; support from the University of Lorraine to Research on biomolecules via the LUE I-Site ...)
Under the supervision of Alain Hehn, in association with Séverine Piutti, and Sophie Slezack-Deschaumes, the Chair aims to support the agroecological transition by offering, on the one hand, training programs to professionals in the field, to students from the school and the University of Lorraine and on the other hand to develop research actions in close interactions with industrialists. The chair will thus be sponsored by BASF, LORCA (“LORraine Céréales Supply”), Plant Advanced Technologies and Agrauxine, a subsidiary of the Lesaffre group. In particular, it will be a question of identifying and developing biosolutions (biocontrol, biostimulation, biofertilization) in order to provide concrete answers to the field issues of farmers and stakeholders in agricultural distribution, especially in the Grand-Est region whose territory is composed of 54% of agricultural land. The only national higher school of Agronomy in the Grand-Est, part of a dense Research-Development-Innovation network, with several technological and experimental platforms (La Bouzule R&D Center, Phytotronic platform), ENSAIA is the ideal melting pot for promote biosolutions. The LAE, actor in the Impact Biomolecules project of Lorraine University of Excellence, and whose research work has concerned for more than 30 years the characterization of new molecules involved in the defense of plants and the study of plant-microorganism interactions, will bring its expertise and his broader vision in these areas