Bandeau Agroéquipements

AgriFutur

Toward future agroecology: technological integration and ecosystem modeling for adaptive management.

The AgriFutur project aims to design, model, and implement adaptive management of sustainable agricultural ecosystems assisted by intelligent technical systems (smart sensors, low environmental impact robots) and to evaluate the reliability and acceptability of these solutions at different scales, including environmental, economic, and societal sustainability.

By adopting a complex metabolic perspective of the ecosystem, the project seeks to model the relevant dynamics between its elements and to predict the evolution of ecosystems, considering the use of agronomic levers through intelligent technical systems. Emphasis is placed on the integration of these technologies into agricultural practices to address local challenges.

The technological approach will allow the simulation of interactions between the biological, technological, and human components of the ecosystem to provide actionable information to agriculture stakeholders to facilitate decision-making. The ergonomic and human-centered approach extends to studying the influence of innovations on the attractiveness of agricultural areas.

The AgriFutur project focuses on three case studies selected for their variability in terms of geography, soil and climate conditions, agricultural systems, and access to technology, particularly robotics:

  • the first case is a pilot experimental farm in Nouvelle-Aquitaine, one of the largest agricultural regions in France. This case study provides a privileged context for experimenting with technology-based agroecological practices and their evaluation. It is supported by the OSFARM organization and the National Agroecology Center.
  • the second case is a site located on Reunion Island, with tropical agricultural conditions. Reunion is highly dependent on metropolitan France for its food resources and faces a major challenge in developing its subsistence agriculture. The selected site will allow the evaluation of the impact on local practices of such technical experimentation in line with the Territorial Food Project (PAT). A preliminary modeling/synthesis phase reproducing realistic interaction conditions using digital twins will be necessary before physical deployment.
  • the third use case is the village of Diohine in Senegal (Fatick department), which will serve as a community platform for sharing low-tech agroecological practices. This project will therefore have a dual effect:
    • studying and understanding the implementation of new technologies in diverse and constrained contexts to improve their utility;
    • triggering disruptions and paradigm shifts in practices by fostering preparedness for necessary adaptations and the adoption of required transformations assisted by resilient technological systems.

The consortium associated with this project consists of research laboratories with complementary and interdisciplinary expertise in robotics and intelligent systems, artificial intelligence, conceptual and multi-agent modeling, ergonomics, and social sciences, agronomy... as well as organizations such as CNA and OSFARM engaged in promoting agroecology and open-source initiatives.

 

AgriFutur