Agronimical research :
Optimizing nature
Harvesting miscanthus sinensis, a species studied for its properties as a substitute for straw, in construction or in stables and useful for heating as well.
Storing the seedlings, sorted by genetic group. The seedlings are then taken to the lab and weighed, their stems are counted, and their genetic variations are studied to select the best combination of genes.
Until recent times, during bad years, food could become scarce in Europe. In France, it’s after the second world war that a particular effort was undertaken by researchers and farmers to improve yield and agricultural efficiency, to feed a booming population and securing a food supply. This trend soon became worldwide with fertilizers and crop protection product being used extensively by every farmer, at the expense of biodiversity and changing the rural landscapes forever, in France as well.
Since this time, academics and research institutes have reconsidered their methods and tools to promote more reliable methods taking in account wildlife and sustainibility and farmers are catching up.
Meticulous movements to tie a knot around a seedling of miscanthus as each one of the thousands of seedlings is genetically different from the others.
Technology and nature
Under indoors trees, a green house like glass ceiling and potted plants in an old industrial-looking building, I met Benoît Mercatoris, a Belgian researcher who works on new techniques and technologies, particularly in the field of mechatronics, applied to precision agriculture and agronomic research. He uses machine learning, data science, coding and imaging from hyperspectral cameras mounted on rolling platforms, as well as other elements of information technology to improve food production, knowledge of the vegetal world to make the most with the resource farmers have. Located in a campus where agronomy and computer science are studied, undergraduates and PhD students engineer all kinds of physical and digital platforms or softwares to optimise agricultural methods or those that revolve around agriculture.
Ornithology
I had a short but insighftul discussion with Philippe Carruette, an ornithologist, in charge of education at the Parc du Marquenterre and author of the book “Bay of Somme birds identification guide”.
Philippe explained to me the specificity of the park, located in the Baie de Somme, where scientific surveys, education and visits are carried out by the same people and not by two separate teams as it is the case in the rest of the French national or regional parks. He also shared with me his thoughts on the decline in nature awareness among the French, a decline that he noticed, after a period of growing awareness during the twentieth century. His explaination was interrupted as he drew the attention of visitors to the storks trying to breed in the trees. Absolutely passionate, he spends his time in contact with visitors to help neophytes to decipher the behaviour of the birds, from this shelter which inevitably reminded me of a theatre with its tiers, in front of which a tree-lined stage and an busy, vibrant sky unfold.
