A 10 year study of pesticide-free farming in locations across France could show the way for an ‘agricultural third way’, campaigners say. 

The results of trials carried out by INRAE (French National Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment) a public research institute focusing on sustainable agriculture, were published in the journal Plant Disease in February. 

Part of the Rés0Pest project, the trials looked at nine original cropping systems (five agronomic cropping systems and four multicrop-livestock systems including temporary meadows) that used no pesticides but had the option to use ploughing and synthetic fertilizers. 

The project’s goal was to use zero pesticides while reducing biotic stress (caused by pests, fungi and weeds) as much as possible, with rotations that varied in duration from 5 to 9 years. When yields were measured and compared two conventionally grown crops, the pesticide-free systems were generally lower, but in some situations they were equivalent or higher. 

Controlling certain perennial weeds like docks and sorrels presented particular challenges for the pesticide-free systems, and sometimes required ploughing as part of the weed management regime. 

Over the 10-year study, conventional arable cropping systems at four locations (Auzeville, Bretenière, Estrées-Mons and Grignon) produced a “satisfactory net profit margin”. In 20% of years at these locations, estimated income was equal to or double income based on the French national minimum wage, whereas in 45% of site-years it was double or triple the national minimum wage and in 35% of cases more than triple the national minimum wage (average net annual income of French farmers is roughly equivalent to 1.5 to 2 times the French national minimum wage). 

‘Productive, technically and economically viable’
The results of the study have been welcomed by pesticide campaigners. French NGO Générations Futures said the study offered a “an agriculture third way… and roadmap for the future of agriculture”. It added that the elimination of “pesticides is not an ecological utopia, but an accessible technical and economic reality”. Pesticide Action Network Europe said the study “shows that pesticide-free arable farming is possible in France. It is also productive, technically and economically viable”. 

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