LTSER ZAPVS
Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sèvre
Research Infrastructure
The Long-Term Social-Ecological Research (LTSER) platform Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sèvre (ZAPVS) is a large-scale and long-term research infrastructure, part of the French Zone Atelier network, that also belongs to the eLTER and ILter networks. This intensive cereal plain (ca. 435 km²) encompasses over 400 farms with quite diversified farming systems (organic farming, conservation agriculture, precision agriculture, or conventional agriculture). There are 24 municipalities inside the ZAPVS for a total human population of 34,000 inhabitants (human population density of c.60/km²). The ZAPVS research program is grounded in the agroecological principles, experiments with farmers set up from field to landscape scales and farmers involvement thanks to more than 25 years of collaboration between scientists and farmers.
Background information
Aim
Fostering transformative change of agricultural landscape towards higher resilience, in order to ensure food security and global health.
1994: First biodiversity and land use monitoring
2009: Labelled “Zone Atelier”
2012: First on-farm social-ecological experiments
2018: Became a Research Infrastructure Platform
2018: Launch of the Aliment’Actions project aiming at connecting producers and consumers
2021 : Launch of the Terrory Health program aiming at putting the Eco Health concept into practice through a transdisciplinary research project
Long-term monitoring of all biodiversity components, ecological functions, land use, agricultural practices, food consumption practices and perception of health and Nature.
Testing experimentally, with farmers in their fields/farms, solutions to reduce the footprint of agriculture on the environment, biodiversity and human health; especially focusing on the role of biodiversity for crop production and farm economic performance in low input conditions.
Exploring how landscape and local management interact in shaping biodiversity and ecological functions in order to design multifunctional and resilient agricultural landscape.
Organizing workshops with farmers, beekeepers and inhabitants to co-design sustainable agri-food systems.
On-farm experiment aiming at quantifying the benefits of insect-pollination to oilseed rape yield @Vincent Bretagnolle & @Sabrina Gaba
Achievements
Farmland Birds: Youtube Video
Socio-Ecological Experiment: Youtube Video
Pesticides & Pollinators: Youtube Video
Farmers & Citizens relationship – Theatral Creation: Youtube Video
Bretagnolle, V., Berthet, E., Gross, N., Gauffre, B., Plumejeaud, C., Houte, S., ... & Gaba, S. (2018). Towards sustainable and multifunctional agriculture in farmland landscapes: lessons from the integrative approach of a French LTSER platform. Science of the Total Environment, 627, 822-834.
Gaba, S., & Bretagnolle, V. (2020). Social–ecological experiments to foster agroecological transition. People and Nature, 2(2), 317-327.
Berthet, E., Gaba., S., & Bretagnolle, V. (2022) Place-based social-ecological research is crucial for designing collective management of ecosystem services, Ecosystem services, in press
Methods, stakeholder engagements and tools
Yearly, more than 100 farms take part voluntarily within the research process, either for monitoring biodiversity, or for agroecology experiments
Significant results on the efficiency of nature based to solution for crop production and farmers’ economic performance such as crop competition to regulate weeds (Catarino et al. 2019a Sc. Rep, Gaba et al. 2018 Ecosphere), or crop pollination by pollinators (Perrot et al. 2018 AEE, Perrot et al. 2019 BAE, Catarino et al. 2019b Proc R Soc)
Building relationship with consumers to enhance their capacity to transform their local agri-food system
Engage scholars and citizen in participative science to increase their awareness on the human-nature relationships
Opportunity to take part in EU research cooperations (H2020), multi-actor and transdisciplinary approach
Theatral creation gathering farmers and inhabitants of the same village around the theme "which terrority do I want to live in?" – Aliment’Actions Project. Picture by Sabrina Gaba
On-farm visit gathering farmers, agricultural councils and scientists. Picture by Claire Gay
Further information
Activities
The research conducted in the Long Term Social-Ecological Research site “Zone Atelier Plaine & Val de Sèvre” is interdisciplinary, involving scientists in agroecology, ecology, ecotoxicology, economy, management sciences ... and transdisciplinary as it also engage non-academic in the research process. Each year since 1994 for the oldest, biodiversity, ecological functions, land use and agricultural practices are monitored in more than 100 arable fields yearly. Since 2012, social-ecological experiments have been set up with farmers in their fields to explore how the reduction of inputs (pesticides, fertilizers) or of soil interventions could positively affect biodiversity, and in turn benefit to crop production (and farmers revenues) through the increase of the magnitude of ecosystem services (e.g. pollination, natural pest control, soil recycling). Farmers decision-making processes are then analysed to identify effective and efficient tools and policies for a sustainable transformation. Such experiments have been conducted with more than 120 farmers of the ZAPVS, and currently (2023), 25 farms.
In 2018, a research project named Aliment’Actions was launched to contribute to individual and collective awareness of the issues surrounding food, agriculture and the environment; and to foster collective design processes and actions facilitating food and agroecological transitions. A panel of various actions are set up in the villages of the Research Infrastructure (i.e. there are 24 villages in this 450km² agricultural territories).
More recently, the project has taken on a new dimension, that of health from an eco-health perspective. The project aims to put this concept into practice by working with health professionals, elected representatives and local residents, including farmers, to explore nature-based solutions to improve the health of humans, non-humans and the environment. Research initiatives have been launched in collaboration with local residents to study the effects of pesticide exposure on their health and the health of animals living with them.
