The Laboratory of Territorial Innovation for field crops in Auvergne
The Laboratory of Territorial Innovation (LIT) for field crops in Auvergne is a project of collaborative platform of open innovation which gathers farmers, researchers and companies. Its ambition is to advance the agriculture by turning the Limagne area in an agricultural excellent zone, a support of experiment and observation of new crops production systems.
The LIT working axes will concern more particularly the reduction of the use of phytosanitary products (biocontrol, vegetable selection, precision farming, robotics, etc.), and an improved soil management, by revisiting the cultural practices and the equipment.
The development of new sectors and the improvement of the environmental balance, in the scale of the farms and the territory, will also be privileged themes.
The LIT is carried by the cooperative Limagrain grouping 2000 members, farmers of the Limagne-Val d’Allier territory. It is coordinated by the pole of competitiveness Céréales Vallée and co-constructed with research institutes such as Inra and Irstea, the technical institute ARVALIS-INSTITUTE, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Chamber of Agriculture and VetAgro Sup.
On the occasion of the Paris International Agricultural Fair, seven founding partners signed, in the presence of Stéphane Le Foll, the contract of consortium which concretizes their collaboration. The Secretary then announced its support for this pilot project.
The LIT, which corresponds to the orientations of the Agriculture-Innovation 2025 report, forms part of the Smart Specialisation Strategy spread in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region (strategic innovation domain/ sustainable agriculture systems).
