3 September | 15:00 - 18:00
Ecologically intensive cropping systems (EICS) aim to substitute depletable exogenous inputs with ecosystem services (ES), yet their adoption remains limited, partly because general knowledge proves insufficient to guide situated, operational decisions. Local, empirical knowledge from effects-based field assessments is one proposed pathway, but such assessments are resource-intensive and remain rare. This thesis pursued two complementary objectives supporting EICS adoption: producing context-specific knowledge on the effects of cultivation practices on ES, to inform decision-making in the arable farming region of Wallonia (Belgium); and testing simple assessment methods transferable to field practitioners, to enable knowledge production beyond research institutions. Both were pursued through one on-farm, biophysical ES assessment in 60 arable fields with annual crops managed by 20 farmers, during T. aestivum cultivation.
A collection of 128 field-based ES indicators, compiled from the literature, was shared in open access as a methodological resource. Most indicators for regulating ES reflected ecosystem properties and functions rather than actual benefits, informing on potential ES supply rather than concrete delivery. This exposed a tension: given the available indicators, local assessments cannot be simultaneously empirical, comprehensive and close to the actual delivery of ES. Twelve indicators were then selected collaboratively with farmers, spanning soil biological and chemical fertility, soil structural quality, natural weed control, crop production, and biodiversity conservation. Most simple methods proved usable by non-researchers in terms of resource cost, provided key covariates were controlled for.
Cultivation practices were characterized through structured interviews reconstructing 10-year histories. Reducing plowing frequency, using direct drilling or cover crops, and increasing organic fertilizer inputs were associated exclusively positively or neutrally with the ES indicators, while higher shares of spring or root and tuber crops and organic certification each generated trade-offs. Practices aligned with ES-favoring principles rarely lowered indicators, more often improving them or leaving them unchanged. The high variability of practice-ES relationships across fields underlined the value of repeated, local assessments for generating actionable knowledge.
Together, these results provide both an addition to local knowledge and a methodological toolkit to support the effects-based development of EICS in the study area and similar regions.
Prof. Pierre Bertin (UCLouvain) (Supervisor)
Prof. Frédéric Gaspart (UCLouvain) (Chairperson)
Prof. Charles Bielders (UCLouvain) (Secretary)
Prof. Philippe Baret (UCLouvain)
Fanny Boeraeve (ULiège – Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech)
Kevin Hoeffner (INRAE)