CrosyeN

CrosyeN—an acronym for Cropping System Experimental Network—is a FairCarboN target project whose goal is to strengthen the infrastructure associated with long-term cropping system experiments. These experiments focus on the performance of agroecological systems that are adapted to new climatic conditions, and they are intended to help guide transitions towards carbon neutrality and agroecological practices within the agricultural industry. CrosyeN will build and strengthen experimental networks with the goal of more effectively exploiting pilot agricultural systems in locations with different pedoclimatic conditions (four sites in France and four sites in tropical areas). Using a number of different criteria, the project will explore and compare various combinations of cropping systems and farming strategies (e.g., spatial and temporal diversification of crop species, maximisation of soil cover, high levels of legume usage, reduction or elimination of mechanical interventions). The results will then be used to inform public policies. In particular, CrosyeN will increase human resources and equipment availability at the experimental sites, with the goal of promoting the standardisation of measurements and measurement protocols across the network. The project will also develop methods for evaluating multiple dimensions of cropping system performance (for experimental versus control systems), which will shed light on different facets of sustainability. Within this analytical framework, it will be possible to carry out transversal assessments across multiple sites, comparing cropping systems with different levels of biodiversification and agroecological practices. The data and discoveries generated by CrosyeN will be available to other FairCarboN participants as well as to outside researchers thanks to the project’s Open Science approach.

The project will be led by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from six research units primarily affiliated with CIRAD, INRAE, and IRD. This team features the expertise of systems agronomists, ecophysiologists, biogeochemists, soil scientists, bioclimatologists, and sustainability assessment specialists. All participants have extensive experience setting up and running cropping system experiments as part of collaborations with other research institutes and with non-academic stakeholders in the Global North and South. CrosyeN has three work packages (WPs). WP0 will be focused on project coordination, operations, and both internal and external communication. WP1 will centre on designing and implementing standardised protocols for collecting and managing data across experimental cropping systems, and WP2 is dedicated to multicriteria analyses of cropping system performance across sites. As an infrastructure support project, CrosyeN will construct a network of sites where agroecological cropping system research is taking place. The broader objective is to increase levels of international visibility by (1) promoting the stable long-term operation of the sites and (2) acquiring and safeguarding scientific data and technical knowledge about experimental cropping system performance.

Finally, CrosyeN will produce open-access scientific publications and will develop Open Science–based training and communication programmes targeting various communities, including farmers and agricultural advisors, administrators and policymakers, and the general public.

Project coordinators: Yann Nouvellon (CIRAD, Eco & Sols), Lionel Alletto (INRAE, AGIR), Pascal Jouquet (IRD, iEES), and Mathilde Sester (CIRAD, AIDA)

Partner institutions: French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food, and Environment (INRAE), French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD), French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)