Transitional pathways towards input reduction on French field crop farms

Abstract

Reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture has become a key issue in many European countries. How have farmers engaged in this type of process modified their practices and in what respect can this help to design pathways for reducing the use of inputs? To answer this question, we developed a methodology for analysing farmers' trajectories, tracing the dynamics of change towards reduced use of inputs (fertilizers and pesticides) throughout a farmer's career, based on the notion of agronomic-coherence phases (input intensive, rationalized, integrated crop management for one crop, for several crops, integrated production and organic farming). Applying this framework to a sample of 20 field crop farmers in Champagne Berrichonne (Indre, France) allowed us to identify three main types of transitional pathway. These pathways differ with regard to the sequence of the different agronomic-coherence phases, and to performance in terms of input use during the last phase. We also identified key transitional practices which play a pivotal role in the transition from one phase to another. We discuss the role of learning features in the path dependency. In terms of agricultural sustainability, this study contributes to agricultural extension and to the design of transitional pathways towards less input-dependent cropping systems.